Analysis of plasma microRNA expression profiles in male textile workers with noise-induced hearing loss.
BACKGROUND
Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) have attracted interests as non-invasive biomarkers of physiological and pathological conditions, which may be applied in noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL). However, no epidemiology studies have yet examined the potential effects of NIHL or noise exposure on miRNA expression profiles.


OBJECTIVE
We sought to identify permanent NIHL-related miRNAs and to predict the biological functions of the putative genes encoding the indicated miRNAs.


METHODS
In the discovery stage, we used a microarray assay to detect the miRNA expression profiles between pooled plasma samples from 10 noise-exposed individuals with normal hearing and 10 NIHL patients. In addition, we conducted a preliminary validation of six candidate miRNAs in the same 20 workers. Subsequently, three miRNAs were selected for expanded validation in 23 non-exposed individuals with normal hearing and 46 noise-exposed textile workers which including 23 noise-exposed workers with normal hearing and 23 NIHL patients. Moreover, we predicted the biological functions of the putative target genes using a Gene Ontology (GO) function enrichment analysis.


RESULTS
In the discovery stage, compared with the noise exposures with normal hearing, 73 miRNAs demonstrated at least a 1.5-fold differential expression in the NIHL patients. In the preliminary validation, compared with the noise exposures, the plasma levels of miR-16-5p, miR-24-3p, miR-185-5p and miR-451a were all upregulated (P < 0.001) in the NIHL patients. In the expanded validation stage, compared with the non-exposures, the plasma levels of miR-24, miR-185-5p and miR-451a were all significantly downregulated (P < 0.001) in the exposures. And compared with the noise exposures, the plasma levels of miR-185-5p and miR-451a were slightly elevated (P < 0.001) in the NIHL patients, which were consistent with the results of preliminary validation and microarray analysis.


CONCLUSIONS
The two indicated plasma miRNAs may be biomarkers of indicating responses to noise exposure. However, further studies are necessary to prove the causal association between miRNAs changes and noise exposure, and to determine whether these two miRNAs are clear biomarkers to noise exposure.
Suzhou Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Lu
L
Ding
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Jing
J
Liu
Kunshan Municipal Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Suzhou, Jiangsu, China.
Huan-Xi
HX
Shen
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Li-Ping
LP
Pan
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Qing-Dong
QD
Liu
Department of Prevention and Control for Occupational Disease, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Heng-Dong
HD
Zhang
Department of Prevention and Control for Occupational Disease, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Lei
L
Han
School of Mechanical Engineering, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Li-Guo
LG
Shuai
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
En-Min
EM
Ding
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Southeast University, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China.
Qiu-Ni
QN
Zhao
Department of Occupational and Environmental Health, School of Public Health, Nantong University, Nantong, Jiangsu, China.
Bo-Shen
BS
Wang
Department of Prevention and Control for Occupational Disease, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Prevention and Control, Nanjing, Jiangsu, China. Electronic address: zhubl@jscdc.cn.
Bao-Li
BL
Zhu
D000328:Adult; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D019295:Computational Biology; D030541:Databases, Genetic; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods; D056726:Genetic Association Studies; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006317:Hearing Loss, Noise-Induced / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D009622:Noise / Q000009:adverse effects*; D009784:Occupational Diseases / Q000097:blood* / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000235:genetics; D016273:Occupational Exposure / Q000009:adverse effects; D016272:Occupational Health; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D013783:Textile Industry; D015854:Up-Regulation
D005819:Genetic Markers; C552431:MIRN185 microRNA, human; C531201:MIRN451 microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs
Bioinformatic prediction; Hearing loss; MicroRNA; Noise; Plasma; Profile