title: Serum microRNA is a promising biomarker for osteogenesis imperfecta.
abstract: The purpose of our study was to screen preliminary differential expression bone-related microRNAs (miRNAs) in serum of patients with osteogenesis imperfacta and to clarify whether serum microRNA is a promising biomarker for osteogenesis imperfecta. geNorm and several other programes were performed to select suitable reference genes for quantitative detection of serum miRNAs from 6 candidate control genes. With geometric averaging of selected reference genes as a normalization factor, fluorescence-based quantitative real-time reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR) was used to detect expression levels of more than 100 bone-related miRNAs obtained by means of miRanda, Targetscan and Pictar software calculations and reading the literature. Through analysis of expression stability and pairwise variations, all 6 candidate reference genes had a stable expression level in serum of 8 healthy controls and 8 patients with different characrteristics, and the optimal number of reference genes for normalization was 4 (snRNAU6, miR-92a, miR-16, and Let-7a). For further validation, the expression stability of 4 reference genes remained steady in serum of another 8 healthy controls and 16 patients with osteogenesis imperfecta (M < 1.5). When normalized using multiple control genes, 11 bone-related miRNAs showed differential expression in serum of 8 osteogenesis imperfecta patients compared with 8 healthy controls. In conclusion, we identified snRNAU6, miR-92a, miR-16, and Let-7a as an internal reference gene group for qRT-PCR normalization and screening results revealed that there existed many differential expression bone-related miRNAs in serum of patients with osteogenesis imperfecta compared with healthy controls, and that these miRNAs had potential to be biomarkers for serologic tests and diagnosis of osteogenesis imperfecta with analysis of bioinformation.
authors.affiliation: Shandong Medicinal Biotechnology Center, Key Laboratory for Biotech-Drugs Ministry of Health, Key Laboratory for Rare Disease of Shandong Province, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan University Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences College of Life Science and Medicine, Ji'nan, Shandong, China;
authors.forename: Ziqiang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Shandong Medicinal Biotechnology Center, Key Laboratory for Biotech-Drugs Ministry of Health, Key Laboratory for Rare Disease of Shandong Province, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan University Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences College of Life Science and Medicine, Ji'nan, Shandong, China;
authors.forename: Yanqin
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Shandong Medicinal Biotechnology Center, Key Laboratory for Biotech-Drugs Ministry of Health, Key Laboratory for Rare Disease of Shandong Province, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan University Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences College of Life Science and Medicine, Ji'nan, Shandong, China;
authors.forename: Xiumei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Tianjin Hospital, Tianjin, China;
authors.forename: Xiuzhi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Ren
authors.affiliation: Shandong Provincial Hospital, Ji'nan, Shandong, China;
authors.forename: Yanzhou
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.affiliation: Wuqing People's Hospital, Tianjin, China.
authors.forename: Zhiliang
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: Shandong Medicinal Biotechnology Center, Key Laboratory for Biotech-Drugs Ministry of Health, Key Laboratory for Rare Disease of Shandong Province, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan University Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences College of Life Science and Medicine, Ji'nan, Shandong, China;
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.affiliation: Shandong Medicinal Biotechnology Center, Key Laboratory for Biotech-Drugs Ministry of Health, Key Laboratory for Rare Disease of Shandong Province, Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences, Jinan University Shandong Academy of Medical Sciences College of Life Science and Medicine, Ji'nan, Shandong, China;
authors.forename: Jinxiang
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Han
keywords: Osteogenesis imperfecta; biomarker; reference gene; serum miRNAs