MicroRNA expression profile in dilated cardiomyopathy and its bioinformatics

Objective To screen out the specific expression of miRNA in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM) by miRNA array, and to constructing DCM related gene regulatory network by bioinformatic prediction of the miRNA target genes. Methods Twenty- six patients with DCM and 30 matched healthy controls were included. The extracted and purified plasma RNA was screened by miRNA array. Real time quantitative PCR was used to verify the findings of miRNA array. The miRNA target genes were predicted by bioinformatics, and the DCM related miRNA- Gene- Network was constructed. Results According to the miRNA array, 24 differentially expressed miRNA in DCM were found, including 15 up- regulated miRNA expression and 9 down-regulated miRNA expression. Bioinformatics analysis showed that miR-20a, miR-23a and miR- 24 may play significant role in DCM. Further Real- time PCR found that there was no statistical difference in the miR- 20a expression between the DCM group and the control group (1.29±1.12 vs 1.07±0.74, P=0.557). The expression of miR- 23a and miR- 24 in the DCM group were higher than that in the control group (2.72±1.45 vs 1.19±1.05; 1.91±1.09 vs 0.954±0.81, all P<0.01) , and the difference was statistically significant. Conclusion There is difference in miRNA expression between DCM patients and healthy subjects. The miRNA may be related to DCM, whereas the increased expression of miR-23a and miR- 24 in DCM patients may be the key miRNAs in DCM. Key words: Cardiomyopathy, dilated; MicroRNAs; Oligonucleotide array sequence analysis; Bioinformatics