Altered miR-10, miR-24a, miR-124, and miR-21 Expression in Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells of Patients with Multiple Sclerosis

Abstract

Abstract Background: MicroRNAs (miRs) are involved in the autoimmune and neurological diseases, including multiple sclerosis (MS), through modulating post-transcriptional gene regulation. Accumulating evidence indicates that miR-10, miR-24a, miR-124 and miR-21 play an imperative role in MS pathogenesis. Therefore, the current research aimed to survey the potential of these miRs as diagnostic targets for MS in Iranian population. Methods and Results: Blood sample of 75 relapsing-remitting MS patients and 75 healthy individuals suffering no neurodegenerative illness was collected. Subsequently, the isolation of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) was performed by employing Ficoll-Hypaque density gradient method. Afterward, total RNA was extracted and subjected to qRT-PCR analysis.The obtained results evidenced that the relative expression of miR-10 (P=0.0002), miR-21 (P=0.0014) and miR-124 (P=0.0091) significantly decreased in relapsing-remitting MS patients compared to healthy participants. On the contrary, no notable change was observed between the studies groups regarding miR-24a expression levels (P=0.107). Furthermore, the ROC curve analysis illustrated that miR-10, miR-124 and miR-21 could serve as promising diagnostic targets for MS. Conclusions: The change in miR-10, miR-124, and miR-21 expression patterns was implied to participate in MS development and could serve as potential novel diagnostic targets in relapsing-remitting MS.