Evaluation of circulating miRNAs and mRNAs expression patterns in autism spectrum disorder

3Citations
Citations of this article
26Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

This article is free to access.

Abstract

Background: Autism spectrum disorder is a condition related to brain development that affects a person’s perception and socialization, resulting in problems in social interaction and communication. It has no single known cause, yet several different genes appear to be involved in autism. As a genetically complex disease, dysregulation of miRNA expression and miRNA–mRNA interactions might be a feature of autism spectrum disorder. The aim of the current study was to investigate the expression profile of circulating miRNA-128, miRNA-7 and SHANK gene family in ASD patients and to assess the possible influence of miRNA-128 and miRNA-7 on SHANK genes, which might provide an insight into the pathogenic mechanisms of ASD and introduce noninvasive molecular biomarkers for the disease diagnosis and prognosis. Quantitative real-time PCR technique was employed to determine expression levels of miRNA-128, miRNA-7 and SHANK gene family in blood samples of 40 autistic cases along with 30 age- and sex-matched normal volunteer subjects. Results: Our study revealed a statistical significant upregulation of miRNA-128 expression levels in ASD cases compared to controls (p value < 0.001). A statistical significant difference in SHANK-3 expression was encountered on comparing cases to controls (p value < 0.001). However, miRNA-7 expression showed no significant difference between the studied groups. Conclusions: MiRNA-128 and SHANK-3 gene are emerging players in the field of ASD. They are promising candidates as noninvasive biomarkers in autism. Future studies are needed to emphasize their pivotal role.

Author supplied keywords

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Abdelrahman, A. H., Eid, O. M., Ibrahim, M. H., Abd El-Fattah, S. N., Eid, M. M., & Meguid, N. A. (2021). Evaluation of circulating miRNAs and mRNAs expression patterns in autism spectrum disorder. Egyptian Journal of Medical Human Genetics, 22(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s43042-021-00202-8

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free