Association of polymorphisms in MIR96, MIR758, MIR33a genes with the risk of atherosclerosis in residents of the Rostov region

Atherosclerosis is the leading cause of death worldwide. Despite significant advances in the diagnosis, treatment, and risk stratification of atherosclerosis, there is still a need for new diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets to prevent an epidemic of the disease. Recently, more and more evidence has been published linking dysregulation of microRNAs with cardiovascular disease, including atherosclerosis. MicroRNAs are endogenous, stable, single-stranded, short, non-coding RNAs and can be used as diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers of atherosclerosis.

The aim of our study was to search for an association between polymorphic variants of microRNA genes MIR96 (rs13231740), MIR758 (rs1885068), MIR33a (rs9620000), and the risk of atherosclerosis in residents of the Rostov region.

Venous blood samples from 100 patients (57% of men and 43% of women) with atherosclerosis were collected as material for the study. The control group consisted of 103 people (42,71% of men and 57,29% of women) without cardiovascular diseases. Isolation of genomic DNA from peripheral blood was performed using a QIAamp DNA Blood mini kit (Qiagen, Germany). Genotyping was performed using an allele-specific PCR mixture qPCRmix-HS (Evrogen, Russia) on a Real-time CFX96 Touch device (USA). Analysis of the Hardy-Weinberg equilibrium and differences in the distribution of allele variants between groups of patients and controls were assessed using the χ2test.

To assess the risk of developing atherosclerosis, we used odds ratios (ORs) and confidence intervals (CIs).

The study found that the AC genotype of the MIR96 gene (rs13231740) (OR 1.92 95% CI 1.07–3.45, P=0.02) and the TC and CC genotypes of the MIR33a gene (rs9620000) (OR 4. 85 95% CI 2.35-10.00; OR 4.12 95% CI 1.11-15.24 P=4.0E-7) are associated with an increased risk of atherosclerosis. The presence of the polymorphic allele of the MIR758 gene (rs1885068) is not associated with the development of atherosclerosis. Thus, the results of the study emphasize the importance of searching for diagnostic biomarkers in the noncoding region of the genome.

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