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Digital PCR for Quantifying Circulating MicroRNAs in Acute Myocardial Infarction and Cardiovascular Disease
Published on: July 3, 2018
[The levels of certain circulating microRNAs in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy are associated with echocardiographic
M V Pisklova1, N M Baulina1, I S Kiselev1
1Chazov National Medical Research Center of Cardiology.
Insights
Levels of specific microRNAs in the blood correlate with key echocardiographic measures in patients with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM), offering potential biomarkers for this inherited heart condition.
Area of Science:
- Cardiovascular Medicine
- Genetics
- Molecular Biology
Context:
- Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common inherited heart disease characterized by unexplained left ventricular hypertrophy.
- While sarcomere gene mutations are implicated, only half of HCM patients have them, suggesting other regulatory mechanisms like microRNAs are involved.
- MicroRNAs are short non-coding RNAs that regulate gene expression post-transcriptionally, influencing protein synthesis and cellular function.
Purpose:
- To investigate the relationship between circulating microRNA levels and clinical parameters in patients diagnosed with hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
- To identify potential correlations between specific microRNAs (miR-499a-5p, miR-454, miR-339-5p) and echocardiographic findings in HCM.
Summary:
- A correlation analysis was performed on plasma levels of miR-499a-5p, miR-454, and miR-339-5p in 33 HCM patients.
- Results indicated that miR-499a-5p levels correlated with left ventricular ejection fraction.
- miR-454 levels were associated with left ventricular diastolic function, and miR-339-5p levels correlated with left atrium dimensions.
Impact:
- Circulating microRNA levels show significant correlations with specific echocardiographic parameters in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy patients.
- These findings suggest that certain microRNAs may serve as potential non-invasive biomarkers for assessing cardiac function and structure in HCM.
- Further research into microRNA regulation could elucidate novel therapeutic targets for managing HCM and its diverse clinical presentations.
Background:
Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is the most common inherited heart disease; it is characterized by left ventricular (LV) hypertrophy that cannot be explained by hemodynamic causes. It is believed that sarcomere dysfunction underlies the pathogenesis of this disease, however, only half of patients with the HCM phenotype have mutations in sarcomere-encoding genes. HCM is distinguished by both high genetic and clinical heterogeneity and therefore more studies are seeking to investigate a regulation of gene expression in HCM and how the abnormalities in this process can affect disease phenotype. One of the levels of regulation of gene expression - a post-transcriptional level - is mediated by short non-coding microRNAs that inhibit protein synthesis.
Aim:
To identify the correlations between levels of circulating microRNAs, previously shown to be associated with HCM, and clinical parameters of HCM patients.
Materials And Methods:
Correlation analysis of miR-499a-5p, miR-454 and miR-339-5p plasma levels and clinical parameters of 33 HCM patients, examined from 2019 to 2021, has been performed.
Results:
Variants in HCM-associated genes were found in 49% of patients. There were no clinical differences between genotype-positive and genotype-negative patients. MiR-499a-5p level correlated with LV ejection fraction, miR-454 level - with LV diastolic function parameters and miR-339-5p level - with left atrium dimension.
Conclusion:
Levels of certain circulating microRNAs correlate with echocardiographic parameters in HCM patients.
