Abstract
ObjectiveStroke and transient ischemic attacks are considered as clinical manifestations of atherosclerotic disease due to on-going vascular inflammation and finally atherothrombosis of the carotid arteries. MicroRNAs (miRNA/miR) are known to be involved in vascular inflammation and plaque destabilization. The aim of this study was to analyze the expression profile of selected miRNAs in endarterectomy specimen from carotid arteries that were taken from patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic atherosclerotic plaques.Methods and Results11 miRNAs were selected and their expression was analyzed using real-time RT-PCR. Therefore, samples were divided into three different groups. On the one hand we investigated the expression patterns from patients in asymptomatic (n = 14) and symptomatic (n = 10) plaques; on the other hand we took samples from normal configurated internal mammary arteries (n = 15). Out of these 11 targets we identified some miRNAs, which were up- or down-regulated in either one of the two groups. Interestingly, the expression of two miRNAs was significantly different between asymptomatic and symptomatic samples, namely miR-21 (P<0.01) and miR-143 (P<0.05).ConclusionIn the present study, we identified miRNA subtypes which showed different expression in endarterectomy specimen from patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic plaques, suggesting that these miRNAs correlated with advanced vascular inflammation and plaque stability. They may represent new therapeutic targets for vascular proliferative diseases such as atherosclerosis.
Highlights
The family of non-coding RNAs with a length of ~22 nucleotides, known as microRNAs, emerged as key regulators of vascular-physiological processes while binding to the 3’untranslated region of target mRNAs [1,2,3,4,5]
We identified miRNA subtypes which showed different expression in endarterectomy specimen from patients with asymptomatic and symptomatic plaques, suggesting that these miRNAs correlated with advanced vascular inflammation and plaque stability
Patients were recruited during the “Factor Seven Activating Protease/FSAP–System in Stroke” study and 24 patients were included in this study as a single center study
Summary
The family of non-coding RNAs with a length of ~22 nucleotides, known as microRNAs (miRNA/miR), emerged as key regulators of vascular (patho)-physiological processes while binding to the 3’untranslated region of target mRNAs [1,2,3,4,5]. Increasing evidence supports a role of miRNAs in regulating a variety of ischemic disease-related biological processes, such as myocardial infarction or stroke due to their ability to promote plaque rupture [6,7,8]. Little is known about the miRNA expression profile during atherosclerotic plaque development and destabilization. In this regard, plaque destabilization is a multifactorial process, which is critically driven by inflammatory cells. We here evaluated miRNA expression pattern in carotid plaque specimens from patients with symptomatic and asymptomatic plaques. Our observations will identify plaque miRNA candidates, which are correlated with different stages of atherosclerotic vascular disease and may help to develop future therapeutic strategies to modulate plaque progression and stability
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