Diagnostic role of microRNA expression profile in the serum of pregnant women with fetuses with neural tube defects.
The discovery of placental microRNAs (miRNAs) in maternal serum has opened up new possibilities for non-invasive prenatal diagnosis. However, the expression of miRNAs in the serum of pregnant women with fetuses with neural tube defects (NTDs) has not been characterized. In this article, we explored serum miRNAs as potential biomarkers in the serum of pregnant women with NTD fetuses. By using a miRNA microarray that covers 887 human miRNAs, we revealed 17 miRNAs with significant change in expression in serum of pregnant women with NTD fetuses and women with normal pregnancies. Quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (qRT-PCR) analysis validated that the expression for six miRNAs (miR-142-3p, miR-144, miR-720, miR-575, miR-765, and miR-1182) was up-regulated and that for miR-1275 was down-regulated. To determine whether these miRNAs were related to pregnancy, we compared the miRNA levels in pre- and post-delivery maternal serum samples. Six of these miRNAs were rapidly reduced in post-delivery serum (p < 0.05). Moreover, by receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, the area under the ROC curve (AUC) of combining these six miRNAs was 0.803 (p < 0.001). Thus, we reveal six pregnancy-associated miRNAs that are deregulated in the serum of pregnant women with NTD fetuses and highlight the clinical potential of serum miRNAs as biomarkers for diagnosis and prognostication of fetal NTDs.
Key Laboratory of Health Ministry for Congenital Malformation, Shengjing Hospital, China Medical University, Shenyang, China.
Hui
H
Gu
Hui
H
Li
Li
L
Zhang
Hong
H
Luan
Tianchu
T
Huang
Lili
L
Wang
Yang
Y
Fan
Yi
Y
Zhang
Xiaomei
X
Liu
Weilin
W
Wang
Zhengwei
Z
Yuan
D000328:Adult; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005260:Female; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D009436:Neural Tube Defects / Q000175:diagnosis*; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis / Q000379:methods; D011247:Pregnancy; D011248:Pregnancy Complications / Q000175:diagnosis*; D037841:Pregnant People; D012372:ROC Curve; D055815:Young Adult
D035683:MicroRNAs