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MicroRNA let-7e Is a Potential Circulating Biomarker of Acute Stage Ischemic Stroke

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Abstract

The aim of this study is to determine the expression levels and clinical significance of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs), let-7e and miR-338 at different stages following ischemic stroke (IS). Seventy-two patients with IS at the acute stage were enrolled and monitored at different stages, and 51 healthy volunteers were served as the normal controls. Expression of let-7e and miR-338 in serum and cerebral spinal fluid (CSF) samples was analyzed by real-time quantitative PCR. The relationship between expression levels of let-7e and miR-338, National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) scores, and the levels of serum CRP was analyzed, respectively. Compared to healthy controls, serum let-7e expression levels were significantly increased, while serum miR-338 expression levels were slightly increased in IS patients. Expression levels of Let-7e in serum varied at different stages in IS patients with the lowest expression in the recover stage and highest expression in the acute stage. However, serum miR-338 expression in IS patients was not significantly different in any stage. Compared to healthy controls and nonacute stages of IS groups, let-7e expression in CSF was markedly upregulated in IS patients at the acute stage. Different from that of let-7e, miR-338 expression in CSF was upregulated in IS patients only at the subacute stage but not in the acute stage. Meanwhile, let-7e, which was not significantly correlated with NIHSS scores (r = 0.29, P > 0.05), was positively correlated with the serum CRP levels (r = 0.67, P = 0.033). There is no significant correlation between the miR-338 expression levels and NIHSS scores or serum CRP levels. Moreover, let-7e, but not miR-338, had a high consistency in expression when tested both in CSF and serum samples. Finally, serum let-7e showed a specificity up to 73.4 % and a sensitivity of 82.8 % in IS patients at the acute stage, whereas serum miR-338 in IS patients showed a specificity up to 53.2 % and a sensitivity of 71.9 % in the acute stage. Expression levels of let-7e in serum may serve as a useful noninvasive circulating biomarker for the acute stage of ischemic stroke.

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Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Funding

This study was funded by the Natural Science foundation of China (No. 81471284) and Natural Science foundation of Zhejiang Province (No. LY13H090004) and General Project Plan of Zhejiang Medical Technology (No. 2013KYA077), respectively.

Ethical approval

All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.

Authors’ contributions

Guoping Peng has carried out the experiments and wrote the manuscript. Yewen Hu and Fangping He were responsible for collection and processing of samples. Yuan Yuan and Shanshan Wu carried out the RT-PCR measurements. Benyan Luo was the overall supervisor for the project. All authors contributed equally in study design and data analysis and have approved the final manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Neurology, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, People’s Republic of China

    Guoping Peng, Yuan Yuan, Yewen Hu & Benyan Luo

  2. National Key Laboratory of Diagnosis and Treatment for Infectious Diseases, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, China

    Shanshan Wu

  3. Laboratory of Brain Medical Center, First Affiliated Hospital, Zhejiang University, 79 Qingchun Road, Hangzhou, 310003, China

    Guoping Peng, Fangping He & Benyan Luo

Authors
  1. Guoping Peng
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  2. Yuan Yuan
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  3. Shanshan Wu
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  4. Fangping He
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  5. Yewen Hu
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  6. Benyan Luo
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Correspondence to Benyan Luo.

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Peng, G., Yuan, Y., Wu, S. et al. MicroRNA let-7e Is a Potential Circulating Biomarker of Acute Stage Ischemic Stroke. Transl. Stroke Res. 6, 437–445 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-015-0422-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12975-015-0422-x

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