Assessing MicroRNA-375 Levels in Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) Patients and Their First-Degree Relatives with T2DM

Abstract

Purpose

The pancreatic islet specific microRNA-375 (miR-375) is overexpressed in type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients suppressing the glucose-induced insulin secretion. Thus, miR-375 may serve as a biomarker for the early prediction of T2DM among high-risk individuals. We conducted this clinical study to assess the significance of miR-375 among type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) patients and their first-degree relatives.

Patients and Methods

We included 56 Han Chinese individuals (N: NGT = 21, T2DM = 10, FD-NGT =13 and FD-T2DM = 12) who received medical health check-ups from January 2018 to September 2018 at The Third Hospital of Yunnan Province, China. They were categorized as normal glucose tolerance (NGT), T2DM, first-degree relatives with normal glucose tolerance (FD-NGT) and first-degree relatives with T2DM (FD-T2DM). OGTT, C-peptide and Insulin tests were performed to confirm the diagnosis. The miR-375 levels were determined by Quantitative real-time RT-PCR (qRT-PCR).

Results

The OGTT test showed a significant difference in T2DM and FD-T2DM groups compared with NGT and FD-NGT (p< 0.05). Similar results were observed during C-peptide and insulin tests. Interestingly, the 2-hour insulin test showed FD-NGT group having a significantly higher mean ± standard error of (64.240 ± 12.775) compared to NGT (28.836 ± 10.875). Assessment of miR-375 expression levels in 4 groups showed a significant up-regulation in T2DM and FD-T2DM compared with NGT and FD-NGT groups. A slight increase in miRNA expression was observed in FD-NGT compared with NGT group but was not statistically significant.

Conclusion

The OGTT, C-peptide and insulin tests revealed a statistically significant difference in T2DM and FD-T2DM compared with NGT and FD-NGT groups. A significantly higher miR-375 expression was also observed in T2DM and FD-T2DM groups compared with NGT and FD-NGT and thus, miR-375 may serve as a stable biomarker for the early prediction of T2DM among high-risk individuals.

Keywords:

• C-peptide
• insulin
• microRNA-375
• OGTT
• type 2 diabetes mellitus

Ethics Approval and Informed Consent

The ethics committee approval was obtained from the Third Hospital of Yunnan Province, China (approval number: THYP0085XCNR) and the study was conducted in compliance to the Declaration of Helsinki. The written informed consent was obtained from all subjects prior to their enrollment.

Disclosure

All authors declare that they have no competing financial interests and report no conflicts of interest in this work.

Additional information

Funding

This study was supported by Yunnan Applied Basic Research Project-Youth Project (grant NO. 2017FD192).