Differentially expressed microRNAs in kidney biopsies from various subtypes of nephrotic children.
BACKGROUND
Our previous study showed a set of increased miRNAs in serum or urine from nephrotic syndrome children. In this study, we investigated the renal expression of these miRNAs in nephrotic children and explored their role in pathogenesis and as potential indicators to differentiate subtypes of kidney diseases.


METHODS
We enrolled 52 children with six different subtypes of nephropathy, and 8 normal kidney tissues were used as controls. RT-qPCR was used to quantify the expression of miR-191, miR-151-3p, miR-150, miR-30a-5p and miR-19b in renal tissues.


RESULTS
miR-191 and miR-151-3p exhibited significantly higher and lower intrarenal expression in all six subtypes of kidney diseases compared to controls. miR-19b was upregulated in three subtypes, and miR-30a-5p and miR-150 were downregulated in two and four subtypes, respectively. The intrarenal expression of miR-150 was significantly different between minimal change disease (MCD) and some other subtypes. The renal levels of these miRNAs correlated significantly with some renal functions and immune parameters. Bioinformatics showed that some target genes of these miRNAs were associated with immune and renal pathological changes.


CONCLUSIONS
These five miRNAs may be involved in the pathogenesis of nephropathy in children. miR-150 is a potential typing indictor to differentiate MCD from other nephropathy subtypes.
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Jinling Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Advance Research Institute of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China; College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China.
Meiling
M
Lu
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Jinling Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Advance Research Institute of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Cheng
C
Wang
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Jinling Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Advance Research Institute of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China.
Yunlong
Y
Yuan
Department of Science and Technology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of TCM, Nanjing 210029, China.
Yuanyuan
Y
Zhu
College of Life Sciences, Nanjing Normal University, Nanjing 210046, China.
Zhimin
Z
Yin
Department of Pediatric Nephrology, Jinling Hospital, Nanjing University School of Medicine, Nanjing 210002, China. Electronic address: njxzk@126.com.
Zhengkun
Z
Xia
Department of Clinical Laboratory, Jinling Hospital, State Key Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry for Life Science, Advance Research Institute of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210002, China. Electronic address: zchunni27@hotmail.com.
Chunni
C
Zhang
D002648:Child; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis / Q000096:biosynthesis*; D009404:Nephrotic Syndrome / Q000235:genetics*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D059467:Transcriptome
D035683:MicroRNAs
Children; Kidney biopsy; MicroRNAs; Nephrotic syndrome; Subtype