Internal medicine

Microarray

Fold change

Disease

Pathogenesis

Atrophy

Microarray analysis techniques

Biology

Gene

Gene expression

microRNA

Molecular biology

Immunology

Parkinson's disease

Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction

Real-time polymerase chain reaction

Genetics

Medicine

Molecular Brain

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small (18–25 nt), single-stranded, non-coding RNAs that play key roles in post-transcriptional gene expression regulation. The expression profiles of miRNAs in biofluids and tissues change in various diseases. Multiple system atrophy (MSA) and Parkinson's disease (PD) are both categorized as α-synucleinopathies and often present with similar clinical manifestations. This study aimed to identify miRNAs that are differently expressed in plasma samples of PD patients, MSA patients, and healthy controls. We used microarray analysis to screen for miRNAs that are up- and down-regulated in these patients and analyzed the relative-quantitative expression levels of the identified miRNAs by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Hsa-miR-671-5p, hsa-miR-19b-3p, and hsa-miR-24-3p showed significantly different expression levels among patients with MSA-C, MSA-P, or PD, and healthy controls. Hsa-miR-671-5p levels were lower in the MSA-P and PD than the MSA-C and control groups, hsa-miR-19b-3p levels were higher in the PD than the other groups, and hsa-miR-24-3p levels were higher in the PD than the MSA-C group. Hsa-miR-671-5p was the first miRNA shown to be expressed differently between MSA-C and MSA-P in plasma. Interestingly, the expression levels of hsa-miR-19b-3p and hsa-miR-24-3p were positively correlated, indicating that these miRNAs may be involved in the same processes in PD pathogenesis. Our findings suggest that hsa-miR-671-5p, hsa-miR-19b-3p, and hsa-miR-24-3p may reflect the pathophysiology or symptoms of PD and MSA.

Identification of plasma microRNA expression changes in multiple system atrophy and Parkinson’s disease