Preliminary study in aberrant expression of microRNA in plasma of patients with Behcet's disease

METHODS: Blood samples from 15 cases of BD patients and 15 cases of normal control were collected to extracted total RNA in plasma. The miRNAs was labeled, miRNAs array hybridization was performed and then array-scanned and analyzed. We searched verified target genes and selected meaningful miRNAs to underwent real time PCR.

RESULTS: In comparison with the healthy controls, there were 8 anomalous miRNAs, in which 3 miRNAs(hsa-miR-34c-5p, hsa-miR-144-3p, hsa-miR-483-3p)were up regulated and 5 miRNAs(hsa-miR-301a-3p, hsa-miR-224-5p, hsa-miR-454-3p, hsa-miR-17-5p, hsa-miR-199a-5p)were down regulated(all P<0.05).

CONCLUSION: The present examination suggests that aberrant levels of miRNAs could contribute to the pathogenesis of BD. Deviant expression of miRNAs may be involved in the activation of Notch1 and SMAD4 pathway in BD, which could offer a novel therapeutic approach for BD.