Elevated Plasma miR-29a Levels Are Associated with Increased Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Atherosclerosis Patients

Elevated Plasma miR-29a Levels Are Associated with Increased Carotid Intima-Media Thickness in Atherosclerosis Patients

CUI-ZHONG LIU,¹ QI ZHONG² and YU-QING HUANG²

¹General Practice Centre, Hunan Provincial People's Hospital and The First Affiliated Hospital of Hunan Normal University, Changsha, China
²Department of Cardiology, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Coronary Disease, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, Guangzhou, China

Atherosclerotic cardiovascular diseases, such as coronary heart disease, have become a major public health problem all over the world. MicroRNA-29a (miR-29a) modulates expression levels of collagen, inflammatory reaction and other extracellular matrix mRNAs, while adiponectin (APN), a circulating protein secreted by adipocytes, has anti-inflammatory properties. Both play multifaceted roles in angiogenesis or vascular remodelling. However, little is known about plasma miR-29a and APN levels in patients with atherosclerosis. We therefore investigated the relationship between the plasma levels of miR-29a or APN and carotid intima-media thickness (cIMT) in atherosclerosis patients (n = 85, cIMT ≥ 1.2 mm) and the controls (n = 85, cIMT < 1.2 mm). We found that the atherosclerosis group showed higher miR-29a levels (31.15 ± 3.99 vs. 26.39 ± 1.05 Ct, P < 0.001) and lower APN levels (15.93 ± 4.61 vs. 21.80 ± 7.74 ng/ml, P < 0.001), compared with control group. Thus, increased cIMT was associated with higher plasma miR-29a levels (r = 0.688, P < 0.001) and with lower plasma APN levels (r = −0.494, P < 0.001). Furthermore, multiple logistic regression analysis indicated that higher miR-29a levels (OR: 1.136, 95% CI: 1.042-1.240, P = 0.004) increased the risk for atherosclerosis, whereas higher APN levels appeared to be protective (OR: 0.122, 95% CI: 0.055-0.271, P < 0.001). The present study indicates that elevated miR-29a levels and reduced APN levels are associated with atherosclerosis.

keywords —— adiponectin; atherosclerosis; carotid intima-media thickness; microRNA; miR-29a

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Tohoku J. Exp. Med., 2017, 241, 183-188

Correspondence: Yu-qing Huang, Department of Cardiology, Guangdong Cardiovascular Institute, Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of Coronary Disease, Guangdong General Hospital, Guangdong Academy of Medical Sciences, School of Medicine, South China University of Technology, 106 Zhongshan Road 2, Guangzhou 510080, China.

e-mail: hyq513@126.com