title: MicroRNAs in vitreus humor from patients with ocular diseases.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Based on evidence that microRNAs (miRNAs) are found in many biologic fluids (e.g., urine, saliva, pleural fluid), we sought to detect the presence of miRNAs and analyze their profile in vitreous humor (VH) from patients affected by various ocular diseases.
  
  
  METHODS
  MiRNAs were purified from VH samples taken during vitrectomy, by using the Qiagen miRNeasy Mini Kit. The expression profile on 745 miRNAs was performed by using TaqMan Low Density Array. Single TaqMan expression assays were performed on 18 VH samples (six each from patients with choroidal melanomas, retinal detachment, or macular hole) for miRNAs commonly expressed in serum or retinal cells: let-7b, miR-21, miR-26a, miR-146a, miR-199-3p, miR-210, miR-374a*, miR-532-5p. RNA extracted from serum of six healthy donors or from formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded samples of choroidal melanocytes from four uveal melanomas (epithelioid cells) and from three unaffected eyes were used as controls.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We identified the presence of 94 circulating small RNAs in the vitreous, some of which (miR-9, miR-9*, miR-125a-3p, miR-184, miR-211, miR-214, miR-302c, miR-452, miR-628, miR-639) are particularly abundant in the VH but downrepresented or not detectable in serum. MiR-146a and miR-26a were overexpressed more than threefold in VH from patients with uveal melanomas compared to the other pathological groups (Wilcoxon signed-rank test, p value < 0.05).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our experimental data suggest that a specific set of circulating miRNAs is secreted in the vitreous, which is quite different from the miRNA pattern in serum, and that the quantity of vitreal miRNAs could change, depending on the pathologies of the eye.
authors: Department Gian Filippo Ingrassia, Unità di BioMedicina Molecolare Genomica e dei Sistemi Complessi, Genetica, Biologia Computazionale, Università di Catania, Catania, Italy.
authors: Marco
authors: M
authors: Ragusa
authors: Rosario
authors: R
authors: Caltabiano
authors: Andrea
authors: A
authors: Russo
authors: Lidia
authors: L
authors: Puzzo
authors: Teresio
authors: T
authors: Avitabile
authors: Antonio
authors: A
authors: Longo
authors: Mario D
authors: MD
authors: Toro
authors: Cinzia
authors: C
authors: Di Pietro
authors: Michele
authors: M
authors: Purrello
authors: Michele
authors: M
authors: Reibaldi
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D002830:Choroid Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005128:Eye Diseases / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008545:Melanoma / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D008875:Middle Aged; D012163:Retinal Detachment / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D012167:Retinal Perforations / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D059467:Transcriptome; D014822:Vitreous Body / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D035683:MicroRNAs; C542542:MIRN146 microRNA, human; C524940:MIRN21 microRNA, human; C528163:MIRN26 microRNA, human; C487931:mirnlet7 microRNA, human