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Micro-RNA Expression in the Urinary Sediment of Patients with Chronic Kidney Diseases
Cheuk-Chun Szeto
,1 Kwan Bonnie Ching-Ha,1 Lai Ka-Bik,1 Lai Fernand Mac-Moune,2 Choi Paul Cheung-Lung,2 Wang Gang,1 Chow Kai-Ming,1 and Li Philip Kam-Tao11Department of Medicine & Therapeutics, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
2Department of Anatomical & Cellular Pathology, Prince of Wales Hospital, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong, China
Abstract
Background: Evidence indicates that microRNAs (miRNA) play a role in the pathogenesis of chronic kidney diseases (CKD). We explored the possibility of using urinary miRNA as non-invasive biomarkers for CKD.Methods: We quantified miRNA expression in urinary sediment of 56 CKD patients who underwent kidney biopsy. Patients were followed for 16.2 ± 15.5 months.Results: Patients with diabetic glomerulosclerosis had lower urinary miR-15 expression, while those with IgA nephropathy had higher urinary miR-17 expression, than other diagnosis groups. Baseline proteinuria had significant inverse correlation with urinary expression of miR-15, miR-192, and miR-216a; baseline renal function correlated with urinary expression of miR-15, miR-17, miR-192, and miR-217. The rate of renal function decline correlated with urinary expression of miR-21 (r = 0.301, p = 0.026) and miR-216a (r = 0.515, p < 0.0001). Patients with a high urinary expression of miR-21 and miR-216a had better dialysis-free survival than those with low expression (log rank test, p = 0.005 and p = 0.003, respectively).Conclusions: Urinary miR-21 and miR-216a expression correlated with the rate of renal function decline and risk of progression to dialysis-dependent renal failure. Our results suggest that urinary miRNA profiling has the potential of further development as biomarkers of CKD.
Copyright
Copyright © 2012 Hindawi Publishing Corporation. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
