Profile of miRNAs expression on serum of hypertensive patients with chronic kidney disease

Abstract

Abstract Background/Introduction Arterial hypertension is a major risk factor for chronic kidney disease (CKD). MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a group of small non-coding RNA molecules that pair with messenger RNA sequences of target genes, causing transcriptional repression for protein synthesis. Several studies suggest that the aberrant expression of miRNAs may be involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases, however little is known about the role of miRNA expression in the development of CKD in hypertensive patients. Purpose The present study evaluated the differential expression of miRNAs in the serum of hypertensive patients comparing individuals with CKD with those without CKD. Methods We evaluated the clinical and laboratory characteristics of 42 hypertensive patients followed at a tertiary university hospital and determined the serum expression of 754 miRNAs using an Array system. Patients were divided into two groups based on estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR): group 1 (normal eGFR [≥60 mL/min/m2]) and group 2 (altered eGFR [<60 mL/min/m2]). Differences in miRNAs expression between individuals with and without CKD were assessed by Student's t test and adjusted logistic regression analysis. P value<0.05 was considered statistically significant. Results There were 33 patients in group 1and 9 patients in group 2. The groups had statistically similar prevalence of women and mean values of age and body mass index (BMI) (age=57±10 years, 66% women, BMI=27.1±4.1 kg/m2 in group 1; age=58±8 years, 42% Women, BMI=30.1±4.6 kg/m2). Among the studied miRNAs, 9 showed differential expression (Figure 1), 8 of which were upregulated (miR-125a, miR-215, miR-146b, miR-127, miR-339-5p, miR-18a, miR-30b and miR-199a) and one was downregulated (miR-451) in hypertensive patients with low eGFR when compared to hypertensive patients with normal eGFR. Logistic regression analysis adjusted for systolic blood pressure, diabetes mellitus and antihypertensive medications use showed that miR-125a, miR-146b and miR-451 remained differently expressed between the studied groups. Conclusions Our analysis showed that CKD is accompanied by distinct expression of circulating miRNAs in individuals with hypertension, especially miR-125a, miR-146b and miR-451, suggesting that these miRNAs might play a role in CKD and could be potential biomarkers of development of this disease in hypertensive patients.Figure 1