Impact of miR-155, miR-145 and miR-328 on pigmentary Process in Iraqi Patients with vitiligo

Abstract

Non-segmental vitiligo is a developed depigmentation causing acquired, depigmented, and progressive lesions of the areas in the skin. The present study was designed to shed light on genetic and hormonal factors that may play a critical role in the pigmentary process of the non-segmented vitiligo (NSV) patients. In the first part, the levels of melanocytes stimulating hormone were measured by ELISA technique, results revealed that the serum level of Alpha-Melanocytes Stimulating hormone was dramatically increased in NSV patients compared to the controls (p < 0.05). The second part focused on determining the roles of miR-155, miR145, and miR-328 that associated with vitiligo by measuring the gene expression of related microRNAs in peripheral blood samples taken from NSV patients and healthy subjects. The total RNA was extracted and converted to cDNA using the Stem-Loop technique, by real-time PCR using SYBR Green and folding analysis. The gene expression was standardized to the level of a housekeeping gene (U6 gene) and quantified by the ∆Ct value and folding (2-∆∆Ct) method. Analysis of the associated miRNAs exposed a higher expression of mir-155 and miR-145 in NSV (P = 0.0001). While mir-328 was significantly down-regulated in vitiligo compared to the controls (P = 0.0001). Based on these results, it was concluded that an elevated level of α-MSH could protect melanocytes by inhibiting the pro-inflammatory activity and oxidative stress. Overexpression miR-155, miR-145, and down-regulation of miR-328 in peripheral blood of vitiligo patients suggest their importance as targeting indicators for vitiligo.