Eight Differential miRNAs in DN Identified by Microarray Analysis as Novel Biomarkers

Diabetic nephropathy (DN) is the common cause of renal diseases such as end-stage renal disease (ESRD) and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Various diagnostic applications and treatment methods are used for clinical but remain some prognosis issues. To avoid morbidity and mortality related to DN, early detection of disease complications as well as targeted therapeutic strategies is essential. Considerable evidence indicates that non-coding RNA plays a vital role in the biological processes of various diseases, used as biomarkers and therapeutic targets. And the most known ncRNAs are the microRNAs (miRNAs), long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs), and circular RNAs (circRNAs).

Our study aimed to identify potential prognostic ncRNAs involved in DN by bioinformatics analysis and validated expression levels through quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) and GEO database. Our research focuses on differential expression miRNAs (DEmiRNAs) in DN and their interactions with critical genes.

We identified 8 up-regulated DEmiRNAs, including miR-103a-2-5p, miR-297, miR-548x-3p, miR-604, miR-644a, miR-1256, miR-3911 and miR-5047 finally. We further validated these miRNAs in a murine model.

Identifying these up-regulated genes and elucidating these miRNAs regulatory network will contribute to a better understanding of the molecular mechanism of DN and how they can be used as new biomarkers and potential therapeutic targets for DN.