RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 MicroRNA Expression Aberration Associated with Bronchopulmonary Dysplasia in Preterm Infants: A Preliminary Study
JF Respiratory Care
FD American Association for Respiratory Care
SP respcare.02166
DO 10.4187/respcare.02166
A1 Yen-Tzu Wu
A1 Wei J. Chen
A1 Wu-Shiun Hsieh
A1 Po-Nien Tsao
A1 Sung-Liang Yu
A1 Chi-Yu Lai
A1 Wen-Chung Lee
A1 Suh-Fang Jeng
YR 2013
UL http://rc.rcjournal.com/content/early/2013/03/12/respcare.02166.abstract
AB Background: Because environmental insults and genetic factors account for the variance in the risk of bronchopulmonary dysplasia (BPD) in very low birth weight (VLBW; birth weight < 1,500 g) preterm infants, the search for BPD biomarkers has begun to focus on the regulators of non-coding RNA such as microRNAs (miRNAs). Therefore, this study aimed to identify potential miRNAs involved in the pathogenesis of BPD in VLBW preterm infants. Methods: A case-control study (15 BPD cases and 15 sex-matched controls) was conducted to investigate the expression profiles of 365 miRNAs in the peripheral blood of VLBW preterm infants at 36 weeks post-menstrual age (called the older-aged set). The expression levels of identified miRNAs were further evaluated in a subsample of blood collected during the first two weeks postnatal age (called the younger-aged set). Possible biological functions and pathways implicated in the target genes regulated by the miRNAs were explored using database predictions. Results: A four-miRNA signature (miR-152, miR-30a-3p, miR-133b and miR-7) with aberrant expression levels at 36 weeks derived from a supervised classification with internal cross-validation discriminated the BPD cases from the controls with an accuracy of 0.91. The discriminative accuracy of the four miRNAs was supported by random permutations of either the disease status or the number of miRNAs selected (both p < 0.0001). A down-regulation change of miR-152 and miR-30a-3p expression levels and an up-regulation change of miR-133b and miR-7 expression levels were found in the older-aged set compared to the younger-aged set. Conclusions: This is the first study to identify blood-based miRNAs associated with BPD. The findings provide information regarding the roles of these biomarkers in the development of BPD in VLBW preterm infants.