title: Screening of circulating microRNA biomarkers for prevalence of abdominal aortic aneurysm and aneurysm growth.
abstract: MicroRNA (miR) are important regulators of gene expression and biological processes and have recently been suggested as possible biomarkers for abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) disease. The aim of the present study was to assess the role of miR as biomarkers for initiation and progression of AAA disease, through evaluation of a wide range of miRs in a large population-based cohort, with AAA patients with linked clinical data regarding risk factors, AAA size and growth, as well as controls.
  
  
  
  The expression of the 172 most commonly expressed miRs in plasma was analyzed by real-time PCR in samples from 169 screening-detected AAA patients and 48 age-matched controls.
  
  
  
  For 103 miRs, there was a significant difference in expression between AAA and controls. Of these, 20 miRs were differently expressed between fast and slow growing aneurysms. These miRs target genes known to be involved in AAA disease as well as novel genes and pathways. By combining the top altered miRs together with clinical variables, strong predictive values, determining growth of AAA, were obtained (area under curve = 0.86, p < 0.001).
  
  
  
  This large cohort study identified several novel miRs with altered expression in AAA patients when compared to controls. Assessment of miR expression may offer an opportunity to predict disease progression and aneurysm growth.
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Section of Vascular Surgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Anders
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Wanhainen
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Section of Vascular Surgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Mani
authors.affiliation: Division of Drug Research, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Emina
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Vorkapic
authors.affiliation: Division of Medical Diagnostics, Department of Clinical Physiology, Region Jönköping County, Jönköping, Sweden; Department of Natural Science and Biomedicine, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Rachel
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: De Basso
authors.affiliation: Department of Surgical Sciences, Section of Vascular Surgery, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden.
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Björck
authors.affiliation: Division of Cardiovascular Medicine, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Faculty of Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden.
authors.forename: Toste
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Länne
authors.affiliation: Division of Drug Research, Department of Medical and Health Sciences, Linköping University, Linköping, Sweden. Electronic address: Dick.Wagsater@liu.se.
authors.forename: Dick
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wågsäter
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D017544:Aortic Aneurysm, Abdominal / Q000097:blood* / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D019540:Area Under Curve; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005819:Genetic Markers; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D015995:Prevalence; D012372:ROC Curve; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013548:Sweden / Q000453:epidemiology; D013997:Time Factors
chemical_list: D005819:Genetic Markers; D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Aneurysm; Biomarker; MicroRNA; Plasma; Risk factor