Endocrine Abstracts

Introduction: Diabetic kidney disease (DKD) is the major cause of end-stage renal disease; however, the pathogenesis of this disease is not fully understood. Currently available therapies are not totally efficacious in the treatment and prognosis of DKD, suggesting that further understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of this disease is necessary to improve its management. Recently, research on microRNAs (miRNAs) has become a hotspot because of their critical role in regulating posttranscriptional levels of protein-coding genes. Several miRNAs were found to participate in DKD pathogenesis; nevertheless, results are still inconclusive. Therefore, the identification of miRNAs involved in DKD may help in the diagnosis and treatment of this disease.

Objective: To identify a miRNA expression profile associated with DKD in plasma from patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) with different degrees of this diabetic complication.

Design: Expressions of 48 miRNAs were investigated in the plasma from 46 T1DM patients: 24 patients in group 1 [patients with T1DM for more than 10 years, with urinary excretion of albumin (UEA) <30mg/g and estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) ≥60 ml/min/1.73 m²)], 11 in group 2 (patients with T1DM with UEA 30–300mg/g or eGFR 45-59 ml/min/1.73 m²) and 11 in group 3 (patients with T1DM with UEA> 300 mg/g or eGFR 15-29 ml/min/1.73 m²), using Stem-loop RT-PreAmp Real-time PCR and TaqMan Low Density Array cards (Thermo Scientific Inc).

Results: Eighteen miRNAs were differently expressed between T1DM patients without DKD (controls) and T1DM patients with different levels of DKD (cases). Seventeen miRNAs were downregulated (miR-126, miR-146a, miR-155, miR-192, miR-200a, miR-200b, miR-204, miR-216a, let-7b, miR-29c, miR-200a, miR-20b, miR-216a, miR-25, miR-320, miR-92a and miR-638) and one miRNA was upregulated (miR-124) in cases compared to controls. In addition, miRNAs let-7b, miR-155, miR-200a, miR-20b, miR-216a, miR-25, miR-29c, miR-320 and miR-92a were downregulated in T1DM patients with severe DKD (group 3) compared to controls.

Conclusion: Our preliminary results show that some circulating miRNAs are differentially expressed between T1DM patients with and without DKD.