Altered Expression of Circulating miR-377 and miR-98 in Relapsing-remitting Multiple Sclerosis

Background and Aims:Multiple sclerosis (MS) has been assumedto be a complex and indecipherable disease, and poorly understood with regard to etiology whichischaracterized by relapses and remissions. The expression of microRNAs (miRNAs) is known to be associated with the regulation of immune responses. Recently,investigations have reportedthat miRNA expression profiles in blood cells become changed in MS. The aim of this study was to elucidate the alterations in the expression of circulating miR-377and miR-98in 60 relapsing-remitting MS (RRMS) patients in comparison withcontrols.Materials and Methods: This study was conducted using a quantitative real-time polymerase chain reactionmethod to explore the expression of circulating miR-377and miR-98in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 60 RRMS patients, 30 of whomwere recurring patients,30 were two months after relapse patients, and 30 others were controls, in order to examine the association of expression level of these miRNAs with RRMS.Results: Results indicated that the expression of miR-377significantly increasesin recurring patients andtwo months after relapse patients in comparison with controls (p=0.0017 and p=0.0001, respectively). However, miR-98demonstrated down regulation in recurring patients and two months after relapse patients (p=0.0002 andp=0.0001, respectively).Conclusions:It can be concluded that miR-377and miR-98may be prospective biomarkers with the potential use for diagnosis of RRMS patients inthe future investigations.