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Differential expression of circulating miR-21, miR-142-3p and miR-155 in renal transplant recipients with impaired graft function

  • Nephrology – Original Paper
  • Published:
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Abstract

Background

The discovery of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), as potential noninvasive diagnostic biomarkers, has opened new avenues of research for identifying patients with chronic failure in renal transplantation. The present study aimed to investigate the expression levels of four immune-related miRNAs (miR-21, miR-31, miR-142-3p and miR-155) in plasma samples of renal recipients.

Methods

The plasma expression levels of the miRNAs were evaluated by quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) in 53 renal recipients with long-term stable allograft function, SGF (N = 27), and with biopsy-proven interstitial fibrosis and tubular atrophy (IFTA) (N = 26) and also healthy controls (N = 15). The possible correlation between clinical parameters and the circulating miRNAs and the receiver-operating characteristic (ROC) analysis were performed.

Results

Our results showed that expression of miR-21 (p = 0.023), miR-142-3p (p = 0.048) and miR-155 (p = 0.005) was significantly upregulated in plasma samples of recipients with IFTA in comparison with SGF and healthy control groups. Concentration of miR-21 (∆Ct value) in plasma was negatively correlated with creatinine (r = −0.432, p = 0.028) and positively correlated with eGFR (r = 0.423, p = 0.031). The multivariate ROC curve analysis indicated that miR-21, miR-142-3p and miR-155 in plasma samples could discriminate almost most of the IFTA patients (area under curve = 0.802, sensitivity = 81%, specificity = 92%).

Conclusion

Our data suggested that altered expression of miR-21, miR-142-3p and miR-155 in plasma samples may be associated with renal dysfunction and can be used for graft monitoring.

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Acknowledgements

This work was financially supported by Kidney Research Center of Tabriz University of Medical Sciences. The authors gratefully acknowledge Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, for technical support.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Kidney Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Sepideh Zununi Vahed & Mohammadreza Ardalan

  2. Biotechnology Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Ahmad Poursadegh Zonouzi

  3. School of Advanced Technologies in Medicine, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Hossein Ghanbarian

  4. Liver and Gastrointestinal Disease Research Center, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Morteza Ghojazadeh

  5. School of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Nasser Samadi

  6. Research Center for Pharmaceutical Nanotechnology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Tabriz University of Medical Science, Tabriz, Islamic Republic of Iran

    Yadollah Omidi

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  1. Sepideh Zununi Vahed
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Correspondence to Mohammadreza Ardalan.

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The study was approved by the Committee of Clinical Research Ethics in Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Iran (Ethical code: TBZMED.REC.1394.932), and written informed consent was obtained from all the study subjects.

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Zununi Vahed, S., Poursadegh Zonouzi, A., Ghanbarian, H. et al. Differential expression of circulating miR-21, miR-142-3p and miR-155 in renal transplant recipients with impaired graft function. Int Urol Nephrol 49, 1681–1689 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11255-017-1602-2

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