Clinical value of microRNA-378a-3p in sepsis and its role in sepsis-induced inflammation and cardiac dysfunction

ABSTRACT

This study explored the clinical meaning of miR-378a-3p in sepsis and its influence on sepsis-induced inflammation and cardiac dysfunction. Serum levels of miR-378a-3p were detected by quantitative Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction (qRT-PCR). The Receiver Operating Characteristic (ROC) curve was used to evaluate its diagnostic value. The effects of miR-378a-3p on inflammation and cardiac function were evaluated by monitoring left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular and end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP), maximum rate of change in left ventricular pressure (± dp/dt_max) and detecting the levels of troponin I (cTnI), creatine kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB), tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a), interleukin-6 (IL-6), and interleukin-1β (IL-1β) via enzyme linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Serum miR-378a-3p was increased in sepsis patients and rat model. ROC curve indicated that miR-378a-3p might have diagnostic significance for sepsis miR-378a-3p antagomir improved the cardiac function by upregulating the levels of LVSP and ± dp/dt_max, and decreasing the levels of LVEDP, cTnI and CK-MB in rat model. miR-378a-3p antagomir also significantly alleviated the inflammatory responseby down-regulating the expression of TNF-a, IL-6, and IL-1β. Besides, logistics regression analysis illustrated that miR-378a-3p was an independent influencing factor for the onset of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis. miR-378a-3p has the potential as a diagnostic biomarker for sepsis and decreasing the level of miR-378a-3p had the ability to ameliorate cardiac dysfunction and inflammatory response caused by sepsis.

KEYWORDS:

• Sepsis
• miR-378a-3p
• diagnosis
• biomarker

Highlights

1. The expression of miR-378a-3p was elevated in the serum of sepsis patients and sepsis rat model, and the high expression of miR-378a-3p may be a potential biomarker for the diagnosis of sepsis.

2. Overexpression of miR-378a-3p promoted cardiac dysfunction and inflammatory response in sepsis rat models.

3. miR-378a-3p antagomir down-regulated the expression of miR-378a-3p and significantly alleviated cardiac dysfunction and reduced the production of inflammatory factors in sepsis rat model.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Data availability statement

To the extent reasonable, the corresponding author may provide data relevant to the study.

Additional information

Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.