Urinary microRNA Profiling Research Articles

Urinary microRNA profiling in pregnant women identifies placental microRNAs that are candidate biomarkers for monitoring placental health.

MicroRNAs are among the key modulators of placental transcriptome dynamics. This study aimed at comparative profiling of urinary (sampling at 228-230 gestational days, g.days), serum (217-230 g.days), and placental (279-286 g.days) microRNAs in three healthy pregnant women using miRNome sequencing. Placenta showed significant enrichment of microRNAs compared with serum and urine (1174, 341, and 193, respectively; P < 10-5 ). All sample types shared 153 microRNAs, representing candidate biomarkers for placental health. Urine samples contained eight of 56 transcripts from the placenta-specific chromosome 19 microRNA cluster C19MC and one of 91 transcripts (miR-432-5p) from the chromosome 14 cluster C14MC. These data suggest an active filtering at the maternal-fetal interface in passing through only selected microRNAs. Urine represents a valid source to monitor the signature of placenta-expressed microRNAs that are differentially expressed in pregnancy complications.

Stability and profiling of urinary microRNAs in healthy cats and cats with pyelonephritis or other urological conditions.

BackgroundSpecific biomarkers of pyelonephritis (PN) in cats are lacking. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have diagnostic potential in human nephropathies.ObjectivesTo investigate the presence/stability of miRNAs in whole urine of cats and the discriminatory potential of selected urinary miRNAs for PN in cats.AnimalsTwelve healthy cats, 5 cats with PN, and 13 cats with chronic kidney disease (n = 5), subclinical bacteriuria (n = 3), and ureteral obstructions (n = 5) recruited from 2 companion animal hospitals.MethodsProspective case‐control study. Expression profiles of 24 miRNAs were performed by quantitative PCR (qPCR). Effect of storage temperature (4°C [24 hours], −20°C, and −80°C) was determined for a subset of miRNAs in healthy cats.ResultsUrinary miR‐4286, miR‐30c, miR‐204, miR4454, miR‐21, miR‐16, miR‐191, and miR‐30a were detected. For the majority of miRNAs tested, storage at 4°C and −20°C resulted in significantly lower miRNA yield compared to storage at −80°C (mean log2fold changes across miRNAs from −0.5 ± 0.4 SD to −1.20 ± 0.4 SD (4°C versus −80°C) and from −0.7 ± 0.2 SD to −1.20 ± 0.3 SD (−20°C versus −80°C)). Cats with PN had significantly upregulated miR‐16 with a mean log2fold change of 1.0 ± 0.4 SD, compared with controls (−0.1 ± 0.2, P = .01) and other urological conditions (0.6 ± 0.3, P = .04).ConclusionsUpregulation of miR16 might be PN‐specific, pathogen‐specific (Escherichia coli), or both.

Bladder cancer: Urinary microRNA profiling for predicting UCB recurrence.

Bladder cancer: Urinary microRNA profiling for predicting UCB recurrence.

Urinary microRNA profiling for identification of biomarkers after cisplatin-induced kidney injury.

Extracellular microRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as novel biomarkers (BMs) for various pathological states. To evaluate whether urinary miRNAs could serve as biomarkers for drug-induced kidney injury, we performed a nephrotoxicity study in rats with cisplatin (Cp), which is known to induce renal proximal tubular lesions in several species. Male Wistar rats were treated with a single dose of Cp (0, 1 and 3mg/kg) and urine was collected on days 3, 5, 8, 15 and 26 for measurement of several biomarkers and for RNA isolation. MiRNA profiling experiments with urine samples derived from the 3mg/kg Cp dosed animals, identified 136 miRNAs significantly increased in urine 3 and 5 days after Cp administration. 18 miRNAs with distinct time-dependent profiles were further analyzed using specific miRNA assays and absolute quantification. We observed >20-fold changes for 11 of these 18 miRNAs measured in profiling experiments, and confirmed their direction of change and time course profile by absolute quantification. Furthermore we found mechanistic links between several miRNAs and simultaneously measured mRNAs in the kidney after Cp administration. These were associated with pathways suggested to be involved in Cp-induced nephrotoxicity including a DNA damage response, apoptosis, and cell cycle regulation. Overall our results indicate that miRNAs measured in urine may serve as BMs for nephrotoxicity in rats.

Correction: Urinary MicroRNA Profiling in the Nephropathy of Type 1 Diabetes

A second grant from the NIH was incorrectly omitted from the Funding statement. The grant number is {type:entrez-nucleotide,attrs:{text:DK047874,term_id:187373933,term_text:DK047874}}DK047874.

Urinary MicroRNA Profiling in the Nephropathy of Type 1 Diabetes

BackgroundPatients with Type 1 Diabetes (T1D) are particularly vulnerable to development of Diabetic nephropathy (DN) leading to End Stage Renal Disease. Hence a better understanding of the factors affecting kidney disease progression in T1D is urgently needed. In recent years microRNAs have emerged as important post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression in many different health conditions. We hypothesized that urinary microRNA profile of patients will differ in the different stages of diabetic renal disease.Methods and FindingsWe studied urine microRNA profiles with qPCR in 40 T1D with >20 year follow up 10 who never developed renal disease (N) matched against 10 patients who went on to develop overt nephropathy (DN), 10 patients with intermittent microalbuminuria (IMA) matched against 10 patients with persistent (PMA) microalbuminuria. A Bayesian procedure was used to normalize and convert raw signals to expression ratios. We applied formal statistical techniques to translate fold changes to profiles of microRNA targets which were then used to make inferences about biological pathways in the Gene Ontology and REACTOME structured vocabularies. A total of 27 microRNAs were found to be present at significantly different levels in different stages of untreated nephropathy. These microRNAs mapped to overlapping pathways pertaining to growth factor signaling and renal fibrosis known to be targeted in diabetic kidney disease.ConclusionsUrinary microRNA profiles differ across the different stages of diabetic nephropathy. Previous work using experimental, clinical chemistry or biopsy samples has demonstrated differential expression of many of these microRNAs in a variety of chronic renal conditions and diabetes. Combining expression ratios of microRNAs with formal inferences about their predicted mRNA targets and associated biological pathways may yield useful markers for early diagnosis and risk stratification of DN in T1D by inferring the alteration of renal molecular processes.