Correlation between microRNA-29 family molecules in peripheral blood mononuclear cells and allograft acute rejection after renal transplantation

Abstract

Objective To investigate whether acute rejection is associated with significant alterations in the expression of microRNA-29 (miR-29) family members in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs).Methods A total of 15 independent transplantation recipients were involved in this study.Two time points,AR onset and AR reversal,were adopted for each recipient.The quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was conducted for the relative quantification of miR-29a,-29b and-29c.The target genes regulated by miR-29 were analyzed by using bioinformatics.Results miR-29a and-29c were differentially expressed in the AR reversal phase compared to the AR onset in the qRT-PCR assays,while there were no significant difference in the expression of miR-29b between the two groups.A total of 14 GO (gene ontology) terms in biological processes were significantly enriched,and 3 KEGG pathways were overrepresented (P＜0.05).Conclusion miR-29a and-29c are functional in the recovery period after AR and may be useful molecular markers for monitoring the recovery period of AR.The probable biochemical processes and pathways of miR-29 associated with acute rejection reversal may be ‘ regulation of metabolic process',‘ biosynthetic process' and/or ‘ focal adhesion'. Key words: Acute rejection; MicroRNAs; Polymerase chain reaction; Kidney transplantation