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Circulating miRNAs in prediabetes potential diagnostic tool
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The pattern of circulating microRNAs appears to be modified by defects in glucose metabolism, according to research published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
The circulating microRNA (c-miRNA) signature seen for prediabetes could hold potential as a diagnostic tool and help to monitor patient response to intervention, according to researchers.
“We identified two c-miRNAs, miR-192 and miR-193b, which may act as biomarkers for prediabetes,” the researchers wrote. “Our results were reproduced in a second cohort of prediabetic subjects and, strikingly, a mouse model of glucose intolerance. Surprisingly, circulating levels of these miRNAs were not altered in type 2 diabetes patients.”
Marcelina Párrizas, PhD, of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Laboratory in Barcelona, Spain, and colleagues from other institutions used real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction to measure the abundance of 176 miRNAs in serum.
Samples from individuals, including controls without diabetes (n = 29), patients with prediabetes with impaired fasting glucose (n = 22) or impaired glucose tolerance (n = 21) and patients with newly diagnosed diabetes (n = 20), were selected from a biobank.
The researchers validated the results in a group of controls (n = 12) and patients with prediabetes (n = 6; evenly divided between IFG and IGT) undergoing a therapeutic exercise intervention; they also looked at a mouse model of glucose intolerance.
The abundance of miR-192 and miR-193b was increased among patients with prediabetes, but not in diabetes; the same miRNAs were elevated in glucose-intolerant mice.
Further, circulating levels of miR-192 and miR-193b returned to baseline among patients with prediabetes in the therapeutic intervention, which successfully normalized metabolic parameters; the same was seen in glucose-intolerant mice subjected to an exercise program.
The researchers wrote that the findings “provide evidence for the existence of a c-miRNA signature for prediabetes, which could be used as a new diagnostic tool, as well as to monitor response to treatment.” – by Allegra Tiver
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosure.
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