Investigation of potential miRNA markers in myopia

Abstract

Purpose: To examine circulating miRNAs known to be responsible for myopia and to evaluate the prognostic potential of these miRNAs in myopia. Methods: The study involved a total of 42 myopic and 70 healthy subjects, who were patients of the Eye Disease Clinic of the Lithuanian University of Health Sciences. RNA was isolated from the whole blood samples using the RIzol® LS reagent (Sigma-Aldrich, St. Louis, USA) according to the manufacturer’s recommendations (Applied Biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). The ΔΔCt values of five miRNAs (miR-328, miR-204, miR-142, miR-29a, miR-let7i) were obtained by RT-PCR (Applied biosystems, Foster City, CA, USA). ROC curves were drawn, and AUC areas were calculated to determine miRNAs that could be used as biomarkers for refractive disorders. After the solution, the refractive error was measured with an autorefractor (Accuref-K9001, Shin-Nippon, Japan). The mean spherical equivalent was calculated using the standard formula: spherical equivalent = sphere + (cylinder/2). Research data analysis was performed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 27 software. Results: Comparing correlations between the refractive error and control groups we observed statistically significant differences between the OD and OS variables in the myopia and control groups (zobs = -4.027). The mean of the ΔΔCt miR-328 values of the myopia group was -5.656, while that of the control group = -4.723. The expression of hsa-miR-328-3p did not statistically significantly differ between the myopia and control groups (p=0.543). For miR-328 as a potential biomarker for myopia, AUC = 1 - 0.444 = 0.556, p = 0.033. The AUC of other miRNAs (miR-328, miR-204, miR-142, miR-29a, miR-let7i) ranged between 0.532-0.724. Conclusion: Based on the AUC areas of the ROC curves, ΔΔCt miR-328 is not suitable as a potential prognostic biomarker in myopia.