Profiling microRNA from peripheral blood mononuclear cells in early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) refer to short in-length, noncoding RNAs that regulate numerous cellular functions by targeting mRNA, and numerous types of research have shown that miRNA is vitalin Alzheimer's disease. For identifying differentially expressed miRNAs in the peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) of early-onset familial Alzheimer's disease (EOFAD), we conducted this study which might give a reference for potential therapeutic targets or biomarkers for this disease. On the basis of high-throughput sequencing, we screened the miRNAs expression profiles in PBMC regarding both EOFAD patients and healthy controls, and the biological information was analyzed. Compared with the PBMC of healthy controls, 142 miRNAs were differentially expressed in EOFAD patients (P < 0.05), including 48 significantly differentially expressed miRNAs, 37 of which were significantly upregulated, including miR-3614-5p, miR-193A-5p, miR-2115-5p, miR-143-3p, etc. and 11 were significantly downregulated, including miR-484, miR-708-5p, miR-205-5p, miR-31-5p, etc. According to biological information analysis, 768 miRNA target genes were differentially expressed, which may be involved in multiple gene functions and cell cycle, cell senescence, and several signaling pathways, including FoxO, MAPK, Ras, mTOR, neurotrophin, etc. There are differential expressions of miRNAs in PBMC of EOFAD patients and controls, revealing their importance in Alzheimer's disease as indicated by co-expression network analysis; this may support basic information for new biomarkers or treatment exploring.