Assessment of expression profile of microRNAs in multiple sclerosis patients treated with fingolimod.

Journal: Journal Of Molecular Neuroscience : MN
Published:
Abstract

Fingolimod is an immunotherapeutic drug approved in certain countries as first-line therapy for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS). The drug has been shown to alter the expression of several coding and non-coding genes. In the current study, we assessed the expression of miR-506-3p, miR-217, miR-381-3p, miR-1827, miR-449a and miR-655-3p in peripheral blood of patients with RRMS undergoing treatment with fingolimod compared with healthy controls. We also compared the expression of these miRNAs between fingolimod responders and non-responders to determine their relevance with regard to response to fingolimod. Expression of miR-381-3p was significantly higher in responders than in controls (RE difference = 3.903, P = 0.005), while expression of miR-655-3p was significantly lower in both responders and non-responders compared with controls (RE difference = -1.03, P = 0.014; RE difference = -1.41, P < 0.0001, respectively). No difference was found in the expression of other miRNAs between study subgroups. In addition, there was no significant difference in the expression of any miRNA between responders and non-responders. Although there were significant pairwise correlations between expression levels of all of the assessed miRNAs in controls, MS patients exhibited differences in correlation patterns. Expression of miR-381-3p was correlated with age in responders. However, expression of other miRNAs did not correlate with age in any study subgroup. The current study indicates a possible role for miR-655-3p and miR-381-3p in the pathogenesis of MS or possible effects of fingolimod on the expression of these miRNAs. Future studies are needed to verify these results in larger patient populations.

Authors
Mehrdokht Mazdeh, Hamideh Kordestani, Alireza Komaki, Mohammad Eftekharian, Shahram Arsang Jang, Wojciech Branicki, Mohammad Taheri, Soudeh Ghafouri Fard
Relevant Conditions

Multiple Sclerosis (MS)