The expression of serum miR-151a-3p in patients with acute cerebral infarction and its correlation with pro-inflammatory factors

Objective To investigate the clinical significance of serum microRNA-151a-3p(miR-151a-3p)expression in peripheral blood of patients with acute cerebral infarction(ACI), and to analyze the correlation between miR-151a-3p and related inflammatory factors, in order to obtain new evidence and ideas in the diagnosis and treatment of ACI. Methods A retrospective analysis was conducted. The clinical data of patients with ACI admitted to Department of Neurology of People's Hospital of Wuhan University from April to July in 2004 were enrolled. 114 ACI patients with first onset and duration of 2-14 days served as the research objects, and in the same period 58 healthy persons with matched age, and gender served as healthy control group. The risk factors of cerebral infarction in ACI patients and levels of serum miR-151a-3p, interleukins(IL-6, IL-8), C-reactive protein(CRP), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in all the subjects were completely recorded. The correlation between serum miR-151a-3p and the area and type of cerebral infarction, the causes of infarction as well as the inflammatory cytokines was analyzed. The correlation of 10-year survival rate of patients with different expression levels of miR-151a-3p in patients with ACI was analyzed. Results A total of 114 patients with ACI were enrolled, with 59 male, 55 female, and age ranged 48-63 years with a mean of(55.0±6.7)years. Large infarction was found in 25 cases, middle sized infarction in 26 cases, small infarction in 53 cases, and lacunar infarction in 10 cases. According to the modified Trial of Org 10172 in acute stroke treatment(TOAST), the patients were classified as thrombotic cerebral infarction(AT)92 cases, embolism(CE)from cardiac origin 10 cases, and small arterial occlusive cerebral infarction(SAD)12 cases. After eliminating the influence of cerebral infarction risk factors on the expression level of miRNAs, and compared with that of healthy control group, the level of serum miR-151a-3p expression was significantly increased in ACI group(2-ΔΔCt: 2.28±1.85 vs. 1.27±0.98, P 0.05). The levels of serum IL-6, IL-8, CRP and TNF-α in ACI group were all higher than those of healthy control group [IL-6(ng/L): 45.21±14.33 vs. 39.70±13.15, IL-8(μg/L): 29.12±14.92 vs. 22.50±10.12, CRP(mg/L): 6.61±3.02 vs. 5.40±2.75, TNF-α(ng/L): 65.20±16.14 vs. 55.70±14.35, all P < 0.05]. In addition, higher expression of serum pro-inflammatory mediators IL-6, IL-8, CRP and TNF-α were positively correlated with miR-151a-3p(R2 value were 0.092, 0.055, 0.034, 0.036, all P < 0.05). Ten-year survival rate was higher in patients with low expression of miR-151a-3p [with 1.27±1.98 as the boundary, 48.57%(17/35)vs. 34.18%(27/79), log-rank = 3.411, P = 0.045]. Conclusions Up-regulated serum miR-151a-3p may be involved in the pathophysiology of ACI. Therefore, miR-151a-3p may be used as a reference to predict the severity of neurological deficit in clinic. Key words: microRNA-151a-3p; Acute cerebral infarction; Inflammatory factor