Expression profiling of miRNA-145 and miRNA-338 in serum and sputum of patients with COPD, asthma, and asthma–COPD overlap syndrome phenotype

Figures & data

Table 1 Clinical characteristics of population and sputum cellularity

Characteristics	ACOS		Asthma		COPD		Control		P-value
	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD	Mean	SD
Age (years)	63.25	8.96	52.46	13.19	70.26	8.01	65.20	5.45	0.000
BMI (kg/m^2)	27.73	3.02	29.16	7.66	28.52	5.03	28.10	4.13	0.852
FEV1/FVC	53.00	8.37	61.92	12.29	49.13	12.31	82.32	3.65	0.008
FEV1 (%)	67.00	16.83	75.77	22.45	52.68	19.40	87.27	4.76	0.003
FVC (%)	81.25	17.21	88.67	16.18	60.28	24.37	90.86	3.95	0.001
PaCO2 (mmHg)	37.44	2.41	41.67	7.02	44.64	6.11	41.27	2.01	0.050
PaO2 (mmHg)	74.58	5.00	72.67	10.12	69.96	10.08	80.36	4.24	0.588
Eosinophils (%)	26.43	35.52	19.50	26.97	1.00	1.58	1.1	0.3	0.003
Neutrophils (%)	52.71	35.54	52.09	31.79	81.48	22.52	15.76	5.38	0.004
Macrophages (%)	19.29	13.02	30.08	27.94	16.89	21.56	77.31	6.87	0.246

Note: Significant differences are marked in bold.

Abbreviations: ACOS, asthma–COPD overlap syndrome; BMI, body mass index; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; FEV₁, forced expiratory volume in 1 s; FVC, forced vital capacity; SD, standard deviation.

Figure 1 Evaluation of miRNA expression by qRT-PCR.

Notes: After normalization to miRNA-16 in each group, data were represented as mean ± SD and the obtained average values for each miRNA were used for statistics in ACOS, asthma, and COPD groups compared to healthy controls. Sputum miR-145 (A) was higher in asthma and COPD patients compared to healthy controls. At the same time, sputum miR-338 (B) was also present in higher abundance in all three groups analyzed, while there was no significant difference for serum miR-145 (C) in ACOS, asthma, and COPD patients compared to healthy controls. Serum miR-338 (D) was lower in ACOS, asthma, and COPD patients compared to healthy controls. The experiment was conducted in triplicate. *P<0.05.
Abbreviations: ACOS, asthma–COPD overlap syndrome; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; qRT-PCR, quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction.

Figure 2 Relative quantity of expression of miR-145 (A) and miR-338 (B) in sputum and serum of ACOS, asthma, and COPD patients and controls, calculated as 2^−Δct.

Note: *P<0.05.
Abbreviations: ACOS, asthma–COPD overlap syndrome; COPD, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.