ANALYSIS OF MIR-378A-5P AND MIR-34A EXPRESSION AND RISK FACTORS IN PATIENTS WITH DIABETIC CATARACT

Bing Qin^{1, 2, *}, Jiang Zhu¹, Hongyan Sun¹, Wei Liu¹, Congling Liao¹, Yabo Shi¹, Changjun You¹, Manman Jin¹

¹Department of Ophthalmolgoy, Suqian First Hospital, No.120 Suzhi Road, Suqian, China - ²Department of Ophthalmolgoy, The Suqian Clinical College of Xuzhou Medical University, No.120 Suzhi Road, Suqian, China

Objective: To investigate the expression and risk factors of miR-378a-5p and miR-34a in patients with diabetic cataract (DC). 

Methods: 87 patients with DC admitted to our hospital were collected as group A (GA). 90 diabetic patients without cataract were collected as group B (GB). The normal persons who underwent physical examination at the same time were collected as group C (GC). The differences of serum miR-378a-5p and miR-34a were compared in the three groups. 

Results: The levels of miR-378a-5p and miR-34a in GA were significantly higher than those in GB and GC (P<0.05), while the levels of miR-378a-5p and miR-34a in GB were higher than those in GC (P<0.05). By plotting ROC curves, we found that miR-378a-5p and miR-34a could be used for diagnosis of patients with DC. After treatment, 28 patients complicated with macular edema after diabetic cataract surgery for 4 weeks were taken as ME group, and 59 patients without macular edema were taken as non-ME group. After operation for 4 weeks, the retinal thickness of macular region in ME group was higher than that before operation and that in the non-ME group (P<0.05). The levels of serum miR-378a-5p and miR-34a in patients with postoperative ME were higher than those in patients without ME (P<0.05). Pearson correlation coefficient analysis showed that the retinal thickness of macular region in patients with DC was positively correlated after surgery for 4 weeks. There were differences in the expressions of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), miR-378a-5p and miR-34a between the two groups (P<0.001). Logistic regression model was used for multivariate analysis. It was found that high levels of MCP-1, VEGF, miR-378a-5p, miR-34a were all risk factors leading to ME. 

Conclusion: miR-378a-5p and miR-34a are highly expressed in patients with DC, and their high levels can be used as risk factors for ME after surgery.