title: Urinary miR-29 correlates with albuminuria and carotid intima-media thickness in type 2 diabetes patients.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Cell-free microRNAs stably and abundantly exist in body fluids and emerging evidence suggests cell-free microRNAs as novel and non-invasive disease biomarker. Deregulation of miR-29 is involved in the pathogenesis of diabetic nephropathy and insulin resistance thus may be implicated in diabetic vascular complication. Therefore, we investigated the possibility of urinary miR-29 as biomarker for diabetic nephropathy and atherosclerosis in patients with type 2 diabetes.
  
  
  METHODS
  83 patients with type 2 diabetes were enrolled in this study, miR-29a, miR-29b and miR-29c levels in urine supernatant was determined by TaqMan qRT-PCR, and a synthetic cel-miR-39 was added to the urine as a spike-in control before miRNAs extraction. Urinary albumin excretion rate and urine albumin/creatinine ratio, funduscopy and carotid ultrasound were used for evaluation of diabetic vascular complication. The laboratory parameters indicating blood glucose level, renal function and serum lipids were also collected.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Patients with albuminuria (n = 42, age 60.62 ± 12.00 yrs) showed significantly higher comorbidity of diabetic retinopathy (p = 0.015) and higher levels of urinary miR-29a (p = 0.035) compared with those with normoalbuminuria (n = 41, age 58.54 ± 14.40 yrs). There was no significant difference in urinary miR-29b (p = 0.148) or miR-29c level (p = 0.321) between groups. Urinary albumin excretion rate significantly correlated with urinary miR-29a level (r = 0.286, p = 0.016), while urinary miR-29b significantly correlated with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) (r = 0.286, p = 0.046).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Urinary miR-29a correlated with albuminuria while urinary miR-29b correlated with carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in patients with type 2 diabetes. Therefore, they may have the potential to serve as alternative biomarker for diabetic nephropathy and atherosclerosis in type 2 diabetes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Hui
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Peng
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Meirong
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhong
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Wenbo
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Zhao
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Cheng
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Xun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Yuanqing
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Sujay Dutta
authors.initials: SD
authors.lastname: Paudel
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Qianqian
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Nephrology, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, Guangdong, P. R. China.
authors.forename: Tanqi
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lou
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D000419:Albuminuria / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics*; D059168:Carotid Intima-Media Thickness; D003924:Diabetes Mellitus, Type 2 / Q000150:complications / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology* / Q000652:urine; D003928:Diabetic Nephropathies / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000652:urine; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007677:Kidney Function Tests; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000652:urine*; D008875:Middle Aged; D005810:Multigene Family; D012307:Risk Factors
chemical_list: C532045:MIRN29a microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs