Investigation On MiRNA Screening,Verification And Network Analysis In Peripheral Blood Of ASD Patients

Objective: Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)is a range of neurodevelopmental disorders which present with persistent deficits in social interaction and social communication,and restricted,repetitive patterns of behaviors.Abnormal miRNA expression is related to susceptibility of diseases and has been used for the diagnosis and prognosis of many diseases.However,there are limited studies on the miRNA expression profile and gene network regulation in peripheral blood of patients with autism spectrum disorder(ASD).In this study,we aimed to screen and verify the differentially expressed miRNAs in peripheral blood of children with autism spectrum disorder.Subsequently,we analyzed network regulation pathways of the target genes by bioinformatics and provided new ideas for seeking the etiology and pathogenesis of ASD.Methods Differentially expressed miRNAs in the peripheral blood from three patients with ASD and three non-ASD patients,were identified by high-throughput miRNA microarray analysis.The differentially expressed miRNAs were verified from the peripheral blood of 17 pairs of gender and age-matched ASD patients and normal children samples by quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction(q RT-PCR),and evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve(ROC)analysis.The target genes of differentially expressed miRNA were predicted by miRNet,and compared with the down-regulated m RNA which screened in the lnc RNA-m RNA integration analysis to obtain overlapping m RNA.Analysis of biological function and protein interaction networks were conducted by Metascape.Results 1.A total of 20 miRNAs were differentially expressed in ASD individuals,with 8 up-expressed and 12 down-expressed.2.The results of q RT-PCR showed that hsa-miR-15a-5p,hsa-miR-27a-3p,hsa-miR-142-3p,hsa-miR-142-5p were up-regulated in peripheral blood of children with ASD(P<0.05).ROC curve analysis showed that hsa-miR-15a-5p,hsa-miR-27a-3p,hsa-miR-142-3p and hsa-miR-142-5p had higher sensitivity(94.12%,100%,100%,82.35% respectively),the area under the curve of the ROC was greater than 0.7.3.1761 predicted target genes were obtained from the miRNet database.Subsequently,768 down-regulated differented expressed m RNAs were identified in the lnc RNA-m RNA array.106 overlapped genes were obtained by VENN.4.The genes were abundantly enriched in cellular protein catabolic process through GO annotation and KEGG pathway analysis.The protein-protein interaction enrichment analysis was identified two protein densely connected MCODE component.RBBP6,FBXL18,RLIM,FBXW7 are related to protein polyubiquitination and ubiquitin-dependent protein catabolism process,NFE2L2,MAPK14,CDKN1 A are related to species metabolic process.Conclusion 1.Abnormal expression of hsa-miR-15a-5p,hsa-miR-27a-3p,hsa-miR-142-3p,hsa-miR-142-5p in peripheral blood may be related to the etiology of ASD.2.Target genes RBBP6,FBXL18,RLIM,FBXW7,NFE2L2,MAPK14,CDKN1 A were mediated by hsa-miR-15a-5p,hsa-miR-27a-3p,hsa-miR-142-5p,may be involved in ubiquitination,protein catabolism process and active oxygen metabolism process and then played an important role in the etiology of ASD.