Circular RNA TUBD1 and microRNA-146a gene expression as potential biomarkers in immune thrombocytopenic purpura

The multifactorial primary immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) is an acquired autoimmune disease highlighted by dysregulation of immune responses that lead to both increased platelet destruction and impaired platelet production with reduced blood platelet count. The pathophysiology of autoimmune illnesses such as ITP has been linked to regulatory non-coding RNAs, such as circular RNAs (circRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs). Our goal was to assess circTUBD1 and miR-146a gene expression in Egyptian ITP patients to correlate them with clinicopathological characteristics. In this study, two groups of forty Egyptian participants were established: twenty individuals diagnosed with chronic ITP and twenty healthy individuals matched in terms of sex and age, recruited from the Internal Medicine department at Menoufia University Hospitals in Egypt. Blood samples were taken from each individual to analyze the plasma expression levels of circTUBD1 and miR-146a using real-time PCR analysis. There was an upregulation of circTUBD1 and a downregulation of MiR-146a levels that showed a significant difference between the control group and the ITP patient group (p < 0.001 for both biomarkers). The expression level of circTUBD1 and MiR-146a exhibits a significant inverse relationship (r = -0.495and p = 0.026). MiR-146a and circTUBD1 can be promising noninvasive biomarkers of chronic ITP and disease activity.