Expression Of Urine MiRNA-29a-3p In The Metabolic Syndrome And Its Correlation With Metabolism Subgroups

Background and aims:Metabolic syndrome (MetS) is a cluster of cardiovascular risk factors that includes central obesity, impaired glucose metabolism (diabetes or impaired glucose regulation), hypertension and dyslipidemia. Insulin resistance (IR) is the most accepted unifying theory explaining the pathophysiology of the metabolic syndrome while the specific mechanism remains unclear. In recent years, the study of miRNA has been rising and it was confirmed that miRNA had been involved in physiology and pathology. Accumulating evidence implied that circulating miRNAs might be involved in regulation of lipid and glucose metabolism.In this study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between miR-29a-3p and MetS via measuring the expression of urine miR-29a-3p in individuals with or without MetS. It was also to assess the risk of MetS and diagnostic value of urine miR-29a-3p which might bring a new idea of diagnosis and therapy with MetS.Materials and methods:The genome-wide circulating miRNA profiles were detected via TaqMan MicroRNA microarray probes based on377miRNAs in serum samples from4patients with MetS and4controls without MetS.11aberrant expression of miRNAs were collected.7of them were highly expressed while4of them were low. In this study, elevated miR-29a-3p was selected and validated in individual urine samples from40MetS patients and40control subjects. T test was applied to compare miR-29a-3p content between the two groups. Spearson correlation analysis, multiple stepwise linear regressions, multiple stepwise logistic regression analysis, ROC curve of statistical methods were used to analyze the correlation of urine miR-29a-3p and each metabolic sub-component, risk and diagnostic value of MetS.Result:TaqMan MicroRNA microarray probe results showed the presence of11abnormal expression of miRNAs in subjects with MetS, including7high expression:miR-20a-3p, miR-143a-3p, miR-365a-3p, miR-22a-5p, miR-71a-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-99a-5p. qRT-PCR analyses confirmed that urine miR-29a-3p was increased significantly in MetS group compared with controls (p<0.001).While multiple stepwise linear regression analysis showed that urine miR-29a-3p levels were correlated with fasting insulin (FINS)(r=0.561, p<0.001),HDL-C(r=0.242, p<0.001) and BMI (r=-0.141, p=0.025) independently. Ct values of the relative concentration of urinary miR-29a-3p were divided into two packets (packet boundary value0.96). After adjusting for age, sex, smoking and alcohol consumption, it was that the relative risk of MetS was greater in subjects with Ct values more than0.96than those with Ct values less than0.96, the OR was4.01(95%CI:1.22-13.12, p=0.022). ROC curve results showed that urinary miR-29a-3p relative concentrations had some diagnostic value for MetS (AUC:0.776, p=0.001;95%CI:0.603-0.829). The sensitivity was77.5%, specificity was60%, respectively. Conclusion:The expression of miR-29a-3p in urine was higher in MetS patients than in those control subjects, which indicated miR-29a-3p was related to MetS probably via promoting the abnormal of glucose and lipid metabolism. The expression level of miR-29a-3p in urine was valuable for diagnosis. This provided a theoretical basis for further study of the function and the biological behavior of miR-29a-3p-mediated MetS. Furthermore, it might provide a new targeted therapy for MetS.