EVALUATION OF MICRORNA EXPRESSION IN PROGRESSIVE ATHEROSCLEROSIS

Abstract

The article is devoted to the study of the role of microRNAs in the progression of atherosclerotic cerebrovascular pathology. The work includes the results of a clinical and laboratory examination of 80 people with cerebrovascular pathology and atherosclerotic lesions of the brachiocephalic arteries, who were divided into two groups according to the degree of stenosis of the internal carotid artery: less than 50% (n=36) and more than 50% (n=44). Real-time PCR was used to quantify the selected panel of microRNA in all patients (hsa-miR-126-5p, hsa-miR-126-3p, hsa-miR-29-5p, hsa-miR-29-3p, hsa-miR-33a-5p, hsa-miR-33a-3p, hsa-miR-21-5p, hsa-miR-21-3p). Bioinformatic tools were used both for selection (using databases for predicting potentially significant microRNAs) and for evaluating the association of selected microRNAs with clinical data on the progression of atherosclerosis (bioinformatic analysis and visualization of the results were performed using the R programming language version 4.0.5 (2021-03-31). Based on a bioinformatic study on the prediction of microRNAs, 8 potentially significant microRNAs associated with the progression of atherosclerosis were selected, the expression level of which can and is available to determine in a clinical laboratory. The result of the study of patients with varying degrees of cerebral atherosclerosis was the description of the expression microRNAs pattern associated with various pathogenetic stages of atherogenesis. The demonstrated patterns determine the need for further investigation of the role of microRNAs in the progression of atherosclerotic cerebrovascular pathology, the expansion of the cohort of patients and the increased use of bioinformatic methods.