Peripheral Blood Exosomal miR-184-3p in Methamphetamine Use Disorder: Biomarker Potential and CRTC1-Mediated...

The neurobiological mechanisms underlying methamphetamine use disorder (MUD) remain elusive, and specific treatment modalities as well as diagnostic markers are scarce. The emergence of exosomes has opened up possibilities for developing diagnostic and assessment biomarkers for neuropsychiatric disorders. Hence, the present study aimed to preliminarily explore the alterations in exosomal miRNA expression in MUD patients and the potential mechanisms involved in MUD. First, miRNA sequencing and RT-qPCR were used to verify the differential expression of peripheral blood exosomal miR-184-3p and miR-4433a-5p in MUD patients. Subsequently, the diagnostic ability of these two miRNAs for MUD was evaluated using ROC analysis. Finally, the regulatory relationship between miRNA-184-3p and its downstream target gene CRTC1 was verified by dual luciferase reporter assay. The results demonstrated that exosomal miR-184-3p and miR-4433a-5p were markedly decreased in MUD patients. However, the expression level of miR-4433a-5p was influenced by anxiety-depressive symptoms. The ROC analysis revealed that the AUCs of exosomal miRNA-184-3p in the training and validation sets of MUD patients were 0.902 and 0.823, respectively. In conclusion, exosomal miR-184-3p levels in peripheral blood may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis and assessment of MUD, and it may be involved in the pathophysiological process of MUD through the targeted regulation of the CRTC1/CREB pathway.