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Updated: Jul 8, 2026
Cerebrospinal Fluid MicroRNA Profiling Using Quantitative Real Time PCR
Published on: January 22, 2014
Compartment-specific miRNA-gene expression patterns in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis: Clinical blood and
Tuba Denkçeken1, Elif Onur2, Sevim Eda Karabacak3
1SANKO University, Faculty of Medicine, Department of Biophysics, Gaziantep, Turkey.
Objective:
The regulatory networks between microRNAs and target genes in blood and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) are still not fully clarified in relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). We aimed to clinically validate candidate hub-genes and hub-miRNAs, previously identified in our bioinformatic analysis and determine whether disease-associated expression patterns differed between blood and CSF compartments.
Methods:
ATM, CREB1, and ST8SIA4, and hsa-miR-19b-3p and hsa-miR-181c-5p were used for experimental validation. Clinical validation was performed using ELISA and RT-qPCR in paired blood and CSF samples from 30 RRMS patients and 30 controls with non-infectious neurological disorders. Group comparisons were corrected using the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate, and group-by-compartment interaction testing was performed. Drug-gene interaction analysis was conducted as an exploratory, hypothesis-generating database query.
Results:
Significant group-level findings were reduced blood hsa-miR-181c-5p (log2FC: -4.37, 95% CI: -5.26 to -3.47, q < 0.001), increased CSF ATM (log2FC: 3.20, 95% CI: 1.86 to 4.54, q < 0.001), reduced CSF hsa-miR-19b-3p (log2FC: -4.25, 95% CI: -5.32 to -3.18, q < 0.001) expressions, and increased blood ST8SIA4 protein expression (mean difference 0.47, 95% CI 0.11 to 0.83, q = 0.045). Significant blood-CSF compartment interaction effects were observed for ATM (4.48, 95% CI: 2.51 to 6.45, q < 0.001), hsa-miR-19b-3p (-4.68, 95% CI: -6.04 to -3.31, q < 0.001), hsa-miR-181c-5p (5.26, 95% CI: 3.90 to 6.62, q < 0.001) expressions, and ST8SIA4 (-1.72, 95% CI: -3.16 to -0.29, q = 0.041) protein expression. Other group-level or compartment effects did not remain significant after FDR correction. Drug-gene database screening identified interaction links involving ATM and CREB1 but did not provide evidence for therapeutic efficacy.
Conclusion:
These findings support compartment-specific dysregulation of selected miRNA-gene/protein markers in RRMS, while emphasizing that blood-CSF reversal should be interpreted only were supported by interaction testing. The identified molecules may represent candidate biomarkers requiring independent validation; drug-gene findings should be considered hypothesis-generating only.
