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Published on: October 26, 2017
Plasma microRNA dysregulation in treatment-naïve primary progressive multiple sclerosis: an exploratory case-control
Ebru Derici Eker1, Sezen Sezen2, Zuhal Altıntaş3
1Faculty of Pharmacy, Department of Pharmaceutical Technology, Mersin University, Yenişehir Campus, GMK Street, 33169, Mersin, Turkey. edeker@mersin.edu.tr.
Background:
Primary progressive multiple sclerosis (PPMS) is a disabling phenotype marked by gradual neurological worsening from disease onset and limited biomarker availability. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have become candidate regulators and biomarkers in neuroinflammatory disorders. PPMS-specific plasma miRNA data, particularly from treatment-naïve patients, remain limited.
Methods And Results:
In this exploratory case-control study, plasma samples from 20 newly diagnosed, treatment-naïve patients with PPMS and 25 healthy controls with broadly comparable age and sex distributions were assayed for 84 neurologically relevant miRNAs using high-throughput real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction on the BioMark HD platform. Expression data were normalized using the global mean method. Differential expression was evaluated in a candidate-discovery framework, and experimentally supported target genes and pathways were examined through in silico enrichment analyses. Twenty-six miRNAs exhibited nominal between-group differences, of which 24 remained significant after Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate correction at q < 0.05. The largest decreases included let-7b-5p, miR-26b-5p, miR-20a-5p, and miR-15b-5p, whereas miR-191-5p, miR-320a-3p, miR-146a-5p, and miR-342-3p were among the most elevated candidates. Integrated analyses associated the biologically prioritized target set with miRNA biogenesis, stress-responsive signaling, inflammatory pathways, hypoxia/angiogenesis, and cell-cycle regulation.
Conclusions:
These findings define an exploratory plasma miRNA pattern in treatment-naïve PPMS and provide a biologically coherent shortlist for independent validation. Larger, longitudinal studies are required before diagnostic or mechanistic conclusions can be drawn.
