LAUSR

Background Micro-RNAs are small noncoding RNAs that act as cytoplasmic post-transcriptional gene expression regulators by targeting their complementary messenger RNA. They regulate several inflammatory, immunologic and oncogenic pathways.(1) MicroRNAs are differentially expressed in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), especially in association with lupus nephritis. (2,3) The positive miRNA list in SLE patients in different studies presents relatively limited overlap. The heterogeneity of patient ethnicity and variety in detection method may in part explain some of the discrepancies.(4) Objectives to study the role of micro-RNA 20a expression in SLE in an Egyptian cohort and its role as a potential biomarker of lupus nephritis. Methods Expression levels of micro-RNA-20a extracted from peripheral blood mono-nuclear cells determined using quantitative reverse transcription–polymerase chain reaction assay. A total of 90 plasma samples were obtained from 30 SLE patients without clinical and laboratory evidence of lupus nephritis, 30 SLE patients with lupus nephritis and 30 healthy control subjects. Results The expression of micro-RNA-20a in SLE patients was significantly lower than the expression in normal healthy control, p<0.001. In addition the Roc curve of micro-RNA-20a showed that micro-RNA-20a expression levels can significantly discriminate between lupus patients with and without lupus nephritis at a cut off level ≤9.3 ×10–6 with a specificity of 76.67% and sensitivity of 96.67%. We also found a significant correlation between micro-RNA-20a expression levels and the pathological activity index of renal biopsy, while there was no significant correlation between micro-RNA-20a expression level and the pathological chronicity index. Conclusions The expression level of micro-RNA-20a could be considered a diagnostic marker of SLE. Also, the expression level of micro-RNA-20a could be considered a potential biomarker for recognition of renal involvement in SLE patients. References [1] Schetter AJ, Heegaard NH, Harris CC. Inflammation and cancer: interweaving microRNA, free radical, cytokine and p53 pathways. Carcinogenesis2010;31:37–49. [2] Dai Y, Huang YS, Tang M, Lv TY, Hu CX, Tan YH, et al. Microarray analysis of microRNA expression in peripheral blood cells of systemic lupus erythematosus patients. Lupus2007;16:939–46. [3] Te JL, Dozmorov IM, Guthridge JM, Nguyen KL, Cavett JW, Kelly JA, et al. Identification of unique microRNA signature associated with lupus nephritis. PLoS One2010;5(5): e10344. [4] Wang Z, Chang C, Peng M, Lu Q. Translating epigenetics into clinic: focus on lupus. Clin Epigenetics2017; 9:78. Disclosure of Interest None declared