The value of MiR-146a and MiR-4484 expressions in the diagnosis of anti-SSA antibody positive Sjogren syndrome and the correlations with prognosis

C.-R. Jiang, H.-L. Li

Department of Rheumatology and Immunology, The First People’s Hospital of Jining City, Jining, China. 269866510@qq.com

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• Rheumatology

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this study was to investigate the value of micro ribonucleic acid-146a (miR-146a) and miR-4484 expressions in the diagnosis of anti-SSA antibody positive Sjogren syndrome (SS) and their correlations with prognosis.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: 70 patients with anti-SSA antibody positive SS were selected as the observation group, and the non-positive Sjogren syndrome (PSS) subjects were collected as the control group at the same time. Fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (PCR) method was used to detect serum expressions of miR-146a and miR-4484 in two groups. Expression changes of miR-146a and miR-4484 in patients before and after treatment were compared. After 3 years of follow-up, 70 patients were divided into high expression and low expression subgroups based on the average expressions of miR-146a and miR-4484. Prognosis in each subgroup was compared.

RESULTS: The expressions of miR-146a and miR-4484 in the observation group were significantly up-regulated compared with those in the control group (p<0.05). After treatment, the expressions of miR-146a and miR-4484 were significantly down-regulated compared with those before treatment (p<0.05). Combined detection of miR-146a and miR-4484 was superior to single index detection in the diagnosis and prognosis of PSS (p<0.05). The 3-year follow-up showed that the incidences of renal injury and pulmonary interstitial lesion in patients with low miR-146a and miR-4484 expressions were significantly lower than those with high expressions (p<0.05). However, there were no significant differences in the survival rate between the two groups (p>0.05).

CONCLUSIONS: Serum expressions of miR-146a and miR-4484 in anti-SSA antibody positive PSS patients are significantly up-regulated. Their detection can improve the diagnostic rate of SS. Expressions of miR-146a and miR-4484 are closely correlated to the prognosis of the patients, which can be used as prognostic predictors.

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