Determination of Differential miRNA Expression Profile in People with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss

Noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) is a significant occupational health issue, characterized by permanent damage to the cochlea due to prolonged exposure to high-intensity noise. Circulating microRNAs (c-miRNAs) have emerged as promising non-invasive indicators of inner ear pathology and potential modulators of cellular stress responses. Nevertheless, their specific roles in NIHL remain inadequately characterized. This study evaluated miRNA expression in the peripheral blood of individuals with bilateral NIHL (n = 12) and matched healthy controls (n = 6) using GeneChip^® miRNA 4.0 arrays. The Transcriptome Analysis Console software was used for differential expression analysis, and bioinformatic predictions of gene targets and pathway enrichment were performed using TargetScan (version 8.0) and the Enrichr tool. Among the 72 differentially expressed miRNAs (FDR < 0.05), hsa-miR-486-2, hsa-miR-664b-3p, hsa-miR-4485, hsa-miR-501, and hsa-miR-663b were notably upregulated, while hsa-miR-6723, hsa-miR-194-2, hsa-miR-668-5p, hsa-miR-4722-3p, and hsa-miR-4716 showed significant downregulation. Enrichment analyses indicated involvement in apoptosis regulation, mitochondrial stability, and cell cycle control. Principal component analysis (PCA) and clustering methods revealed clear molecular distinctions between the patient and control groups. The observed alterations in c-miRNA profiles highlight their relevance to NIHL-related cellular stress and degeneration. These findings support their utility as candidate biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis, warranting further validation in functional and longitudinal studies.