Circulating miRNA-21 and miRNA-155 Expression in Adult Patients With Bronchial Asthma and Its Association With Lung Function.
Median miRNA-21 expression is higher in adult patients with bronchial asthma.
Circulating miRNA-21 and miRNA-155 Expression in Adult Patients With Bronchial Asthma and Its Association With Lung Function.
MiRNAs (miRNAs) regulate post-transcriptional gene expression and have emerged as important contributors to the pathogenesis of asthma, as well as potential biomarker candidates.
In this pilot case-control study, a total of 72 participants were enrolled, including 36 adults with spirometry-confirmed asthma and 36 healthy controls recruited from hospital staff and attendants without respiratory symptoms or history of allergic disease.
median level of miRNA-21 in adults with asthma, found to be higher
In contrast, miRNA-155 expression did not differ significantly between the groups (median 0.159 (IQR 0.068-0.363) vs 0.220 (IQR 0.107-0.338), P=0.240).
Among correlation analyses, only miRNA-155 showed a significant positive correlation with serum IgE (Spearman's ρ=0.654, P<0.001) and no significant association of miRNA-21 with the IgE level.
Neither miRNA correlated significantly with absolute eosinophil count, FEV1 or forced vital capacity.
Serum miRNA-21 was significantly upregulated in bronchial asthma, supporting its possible association with asthma-related immune dysregulation.
Although miRNA-155 was not differentially expressed between groups, its positive association with serum IgE suggests a possible relationship with atopic inflammatory pathways.
These findings suggest that circulating miRNAs may reflect asthma-related inflammatory activity; however, their clinical biomarker utility requires further validation.