The Expression Level And Clinical Significance Of MiRNA142-3P In Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells Of Graves’ Disease Patients

Objective:To compare the expression levels of microRNA-142-3p（miR-142-3p）in peripheral blood mononuclear cells（PBMCs）of patients with Graves disease（GD）and healthy controls.Meanwhile,the possible role and mechanism of mir-142-3p in the development and progression of Graves’disease were investigated by detecting the changes of GARP mRNA expression in PBMCs of GD patients and normal healthy controls as well as the serum concentration of transforming growth factor 1（TGF-β1）in GD patients and normal healthy controls.Methods:PBMC of 37 Graves’disease patients and 15 normal healthy volunteers were extracted by density gradient centrifugation,and the expression levels of miR-142-3p and GARP mRNA in PBMC of the two groups were detected by RT-qPCR.Serum concentrations of TGF-β1 in both groups were detected by ELISA,and thyroid function（FT₃,FT₄,TT₃,TT₄,TSH）and thyrotropin receptor antibody（TRAb）were detected at the same time.The expression levels of miR-142-3p and GARP mRNA in PBMCs of the two groups and their correlation were compared,and the differences in serum TGF-β1 concentration between the two groups were compared.The correlation between mir-142-3p and GARP mRNA levels and FT₃,FT₄,TT₃,TT₄ and TRAb was analyzed.Receiver operating characteristic curve（ROC）was used to evaluate the diagnostic value of mir-142-3p for Graves’disease.Results:1.The expression level of miR-142-3p in PBMCs of GD patients（0.378±0.199）was significantly lower than that of normal healthy controls（1.104±0.421）,with significant difference（P=0.003,P<0.01）.The expression level of GARP mRNA in GD group（1.558±0.765）was significantly higher than that in normal control group（1.024±0.258）（P=0.004,P<0.01）.In the disease group,miR-142-3p was negatively correlated with GARP mRNA in PBMCs（r=-0.401,P=0.014,P<0.05）.2.Correlation analysis between miR-142-3p,GARP mRNA and thyroid function indicators:miR-142-3p was negatively correlated with FT₃,FT₄,TT₃ and TT₄（r=-0.392,P=0.017,P<0.05;r=-0.326,P=0.049,P<0.05;r=0.337,P=0.042,P<0.05;r=-0.437,P=0.007,P<0.01）.GARP mRNA had no significant correlation with FT₃ and FT₄（r=0.163,P=0.315,P>0.05;r=0.132,P=0.436,P>0.05）;GARP mRNA was positively correlated with TT₃ and TT₄（r=0.563,P=0.000,P<0.01;r=0.423,P=0.009,P<0.01）.3.Correlation analysis of TRAb with mir-142-3p and GRAP mRNA:miR-142-3p was negatively correlated with TRAb（r=-0.364,P=0.027,P<0.05）;There was no significant correlation between GRAP mRNA and TRAb（r=0.314,P=0.059,P>0.05）.4.Comparison of the expression levels of TGF-β1in serum between the two groups:the expression levels of TGF-β1 in serum of the GD group（0.632±0.278）were not significantly different from those of the normal control group（0.617±0.302）（P>0.05）.5.The receiver operating characteristic curve（ROC）analysis showed that mir-142-3p had certain diagnostic value for Graves’disease,and the area under the ROC curve（AUC）=0.917（95%CI 0.8063¹.028）.Conclusion:1.Downregulation of miR-142-3p expression is correlated with Graves’disease and may play an important role in the occurrence and development of the disease.2.MiR-142-3p can regulate the expression of GARP mRNA.3.Abnormal expression of miR-142-3p in Graves’disease may be related to GARP-TGF-βpathway.