Differential expression of microRNAs in renal transplant patients with acute T-cell mediated rejection.

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate most of encoding genes and protein. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression levels of miR-142-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-155 and miR-223 in paired biopsy and peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) samples of renal allograft recipients with acute T-cell mediated rejection (ATCMR), compared with normal allografts (NA).
Methods: In this study, the expression levels of individual miRNAs were determined in biopsy and PBMC samples of 17 recipients with ATCMR and 18 recipients with NA.
Results: Our results showed that the intragraft expression levels of all studied miRNAs were significantly higher in ATCMR than NA. However, regarding the PBMC samples, miR-142-3p and miR-223 were significantly increased in ATCMR than NA. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis showed that miR-142-5p, miR-142-3p, miR-155 and miR-223 in biopsy samples and miR-142-3p and miR-223 in PBMC samples could discriminate ATCMR from NA recipients.
Conclusion: It has been reported that high intragraft expressions of miRNAs have a profound role in the pathogenesis of ATCMR process. Our results showed that high expression of all the studied miRNAs in biopsies and miR-142-3p and miR-223 in PBMC samples could be used as suggestive diagnostic tools to discriminate ATCMR patients from NA.
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