Background: Early diagnosis of Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) and its activity has a curtail role in the
proper management of the disease with positive effect on its prognosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) evidently take
apart in the pathogenesis of autoimmune diseases. Many miRNAs play a role in SLE pathogenesis and miR-155 is
one of them.
Objective: To examine miR-155 expression in patients with SLE and evaluate its role in the disease development
and activity.
Subjects and methods: The current study evaluated miR-155 expression in 60 SLE patients and 40 apparently
healthy controls (HCs) using real-time polymerase chain reaction. Diagnosis was according to Systemic Lupus
International Collaborating Clinics (SLICC) criteria. Disease activity was evaluated by systemic lupus erythematosus
disease activity index (SLEDAI-2 K) score.
Results: miR-155 level was significantly higher in SLE patients than controls with significant positive correlation
with SLEDAI score and positive relation to renal involvement, proteinuria, pulmonary complications, fever and
dsDNA antibodies. Multivariate regression analysis revealed that miR-155 is a significant risk factor for SLE.
Conclusion: Overexpression of miR-155 occurs in SLE and it can be used as a predictor biomarker for disease's
development and activity. It also may be a risk for renal involvement in the disease course.
1. Introduction
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus (SLE) is a chronic autoimmune
condition that is characterized by immunological tolerance lost and the
development of pathogenic autoantibodies contributing to destruction
of multiple organ systems with variable degree of severity (Fang and
Orr-Skirvin, 2019). The immunopathogenesis of SLE is unclear, however
the complex relationship between genetic, epigenetic, hormonal
and environmental factors are predisposing factors (Momtaz et al.,
2019). The missing connection between hereditary and environmental
risk factors can be epigenetic pathways. Epigenetics relate to gene expression
variations inherited by factors other than modifications to the
standard DNA series. They involve DNA methylation, post-translation
histone modifications and microRNA regulation (Richardson and Patel,
2014).
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, uniformly stranded, non-coding
RNAs with a length from 18 to 25 nucleotides, behaving as a posttranscription
negative gene expression regulator, by attaching to the
target messenger RNAs (mRNAs), thereby preventing their translation
into proteins or causing their degradation (Shumnalieva et al., 2018).
Changes to the miRNA regulation are involved in cancer, degenerative,
metabolic and autoimmune diseases such as SLE (Chen et al., 2017).
Dysregulated miRNAs can assist SLE pathogenesis by managing interferon
pathway type I, inflammatory cytokine production, T cell DNA
methylation, and local tissue inflammation. In addition, miRNAs can
affect the activity and intensity of the disease (Pérez-Sánchez et al.,
2016).
Most miRNAs come from blood cells and are balanced in tissues,
plasma, serum and other body fluids, which promote their usage as
biomarkers for SLE diagnosis, disease activity evaluation and therapeutic
effectiveness assessment (Husakova, 2016). The existence of
high sensitivity and low complex polymerase chain reaction (PCR)
detection methods opposed to protein biomarkers is one of the main
benefits of utilizing miRNAs as biomarkers for disease. In fact, early SLE
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mgene.2020.100770
Received 26 May 2020; Received in revised form 7 July 2020; Accepted 20 July 2020
⁎ Corresponding author.
E-mail address: neno.lab88@gmail.com (N.A. Hamed).
Meta Gene 26 (2020) 100770
Available online 24 July 2020
2214-5400/ © 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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