Association of MIR-499a expression and seed region variant (rs3746444) with cardiovascular disease in Egyptian patients

Abstract

Background: Circulating microRNAs could be powerful markers of acute myocardial infarction (MI) and its functional genetic variants could increase susceptibility to cardiovascular disease (CVD). The current study aimed to quantify the microRNA (miR)-499a levels in serum of MI patients compared to hypertensive and healthy subjects and to investigate the association of its A/G variant rs3746444 with CVD in a sample of an Egyptian population. Methods: Serum miR-499a relative expressions were measured in 110 acute MI patients, 76 hypertensive patients, and 121 healthy controls by Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. MIR-499a genotyping was performed for an additional 107 coronary artery disease patients by Real-time allele discrimination assay. Results: Acute MI patients showed high relative expression of miR-499a (> 105-fold, p