Inflammatory associated microRNAs expression in cardiomyocytes and blood serum in CAD patients

Abstract

Abstract Objective To evaluate inflammatory associated microRNAs: miRNA-27a, miRNA-133a and miRNA-203 expression in CAD patients and to explore whether tissue expression is correlated with serum miRNA expression. Methods This cross-sectional observational study comprised 100 subjects (mean age 60.9±1.0 years old; 67% men). The left atrial and blood serum expression of the miRNA-27a, miRNA-133a and miR-203 was analyzed using real-time PCR in. 80 patients referred for CABG surgery (40 of them with multi-vessel CAD) and 20 control patients undergoing heart valve surgery. Patients with CAD did not have a history of myocardial infarction, they were patients with stable chronic CAD with planned coronary arteries bypass graft surgery (CABG). Results The levels of miRNA-27a, miRNA-133a and miRNA-203 myocardial and serum expression in patients with clinically relevant three-vessel coronary stenosis were significantly higher than in patients with 1–2 vessel disease, and significantly higher in both CAD cohorts compared to subjects without coronary atherosclerosis. The myocardial expression of miRNA-27a and miRNA-133a was significantly higher than serum expression, while miRNA-203 myocardial expression was lower serum expression. Serum miRNA-203 expression displayed the greatest differences between compared groups. Decision tree method established that the risk of atherosclerotic heart disease increases five-fold if miRNA-203 serum expression was more than 101.00 REU (OR 5.9 & CI 94.21–107.93). Conclusions Myocardial miRNA-27a, miRNA-133a and miRNA-203 expression in the left atrium and blood serum is higher in CAD patients than in non-CAD subjects, and the expression level is strongly associated with the number of affected coronary vessels. Although larger studies are required to confirm our findings, our results suggest that serum miRNA-203 expression level is correlated with myocardial tissue expression, severity of coronary atherosclerosis and might be proposed as a marker of the CAD extent. Funding Acknowledgement Type of funding source: None