EXPRESSION OF MIR-409-5P AND MIR-216A IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETIC RETINOPATHY AND RISK FACTORS FOR THE DISEASE

Qi Wan¹, Chen Wang², Yuliang Wang^{*, 3}

¹First Clinical School, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210000, P.R.China - ²NanJing Medical-king Eye Hospital, Nanjing 210000, P.R.China - ³Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, P.R.China

¹First Clinical School, Nanjing University of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210000, P.R.China - ²NanJing Medical-king Eye Hospital, Nanjing 210000, P.R.China - ³Department of Ophthalmology, Jiangsu Province Hospital of Chinese Medicine, Nanjing 210029, P.R.China

Objective: The purpose of this study was to investigate the expression of miR-409-5p and miR-216a in patients with diabetic retinopathy (DR). 

Methods: We enrolled 115 DR patients into the DR group, 102 patients with simple diabetes into the non-DR group, and 100 healthy participants into the control group. Then we measured the expression of miR-409-5p and miR-216a in the three groups. 

Results: Compared to the control group, the DR group and the non-DR group had a higher miR-409-5p level and a lower miR-216a level (all P<0.05). DR group had a higher miR-409-5p level and a lower miR-216a level than the non-DR group (all P<0.05). The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve revealed certain diagnostic values of miR-409-5p and miR-216a for DR. The Pearson correlation coefficients suggested markedly positive correlations of miR-409-5p with the disease course and levels of glycosylated hemoglobin (HbA1c), fasting plasma glucose (FPG), and vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), and marked negative correlations of miR-216a with the disease course and levels of HbA1c, FPG, and VEGF. Multivariate logistic regression analysis identified a long disease course, high levels of miR-409-5p, HbA1c, FPG, and VEGF, and low level of miR-216a as risk factors for DR. 

Conclusion: In DR patients, miR-409-5p is highly expressed and miR-216a is lowly expressed. Long disease course, high levels of miR-409-5p, HbA1c, FPG, and VEGF, and low level of miR-216a are risk factors triggering the occurrence of DR in diabetic patients.