Expression levels of plasma microRNA-16 and microRNA-195 in depression patients

Objective To investigate expression levels of plasma miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 in pre-and post-treatment depression patients, and to explore the clinical application possibility of miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 in the premliminary. Methods 60 cases of depression patients (research group) and 30 cases of healthy volunteers (control group) were collected, then the information and HAMD scores of research research group and control group were detected. The research group were randomly divided into two groups, each group 30 cases, one group (group A) were given serotonin reuptake inhibitors (fluoxetine) as antidepressant treatment, another group (group B)were given the dual channel inhibitors (venlafaxine) as antidepressant treatment.After 6 weeks'treatment, patients' peripheral blood were collected again. The levels of miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 were detected in plasma using real-time fluorescent quantitative PCR method.Then the levels of the two miRNAs in different groups were analyzed. Results There was no difference between group A and group B of plasma miRNA-16 level without treatment, also of plasma miRNA-195(t=0.536, 0.212, P>0.05). Before and after treatment, plasma miRNA-16 levels of group A and group B were significantly lower than that of control group(group A t0=-6.609, t6=-4.755, P<0.01; group B t0=-7.171, t6=-5.149, P<0.01). Before and after treatment, plasma miRNA-195 levels of group A and group B were significantly lower than that of control group(group A t0=-6.626, t6=-6.379, P<0.01; group B t0=-6.690, t6=-6.525, P<0.01). After 6 weeks' antidepressant treatment, the scores of HAMD were significantly lower than pre-treatment in both group A and group B, and the difference was statistically significant (t=46.116, 46.142, P<0.01). After 6 weeks' antidepressant treatment, the levels of plasma miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 elevated compared with pre-treatment in group A and group B(miRNA-16 tA=-3.366, tB=-3.299, P<0.05; miRNA-195 tA=-5.646, tB=-4.081, P<0.05). The scores of HAMD were not correlated with the level of plasma miRNA-16 and miRNA-195. Conclusion Low plasma miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 expression levels are related to the depression.miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 are elevated after antidepressant treatment. miRNA-16 and miRNA-195 may become screening indeces of depression, also have the potential to be antidepressant efficacy evaluation indexes. Key words: MicroRNA-16; MicroRNA-195; Depression