Serum miRNA as a possible biomarker in the diagnosis of bipolar II disorder

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 10; no. 1; p. 1131
• Main Authors: Lee, Sheng-Yu, Lu, Ru-Band, Wang, Liang-Jen, Chang, Cheng-Ho, Lu, Ti, Wang, Tzu-Yun, Tsai, Kuo-Wang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 24.01.2020; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 692/53/2421; 692/699/476/1333; Adult; Aged; Area Under Curve; Asian Continental Ancestry Group - genetics; Biomarkers; Bipolar Disorder - blood; Bipolar Disorder - diagnosis; Bipolar Disorder - genetics; Diagnosis; Female; Genetic Association Studies; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Male; MicroRNAs - blood; Middle Aged; miRNA; multidisciplinary; Next-generation sequencing; Peripheral blood; ROC Curve; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Sensitivity and Specificity; Support vector machines; Young Adult
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-020-58195-0

The diagnosis of Bipolar II disorder (BD-II) is currently based on the patients’ description of symptoms and clinical behavioral observations. This study explored the possibility of miRNA in peripheral blood (serum) as a specific biomarker for BD-II. We identified 6 candidate miRNAs to differentiate BD-II patients from controls using next-generation sequencing. We then examined these candidate miRNAs using real-time PCR in the first cohort (as training group) of 79 BD-II and 95 controls. A diagnostic model was built based on these candidate miRNAs and then tested on an individual testing group (BD-II: n = 20, controls: n = 20). We found that serum expression levels of miR-7-5p, miR-23b-3p, miR-142-3p, miR-221-5p, and miR-370-3p significantly increased in BD-II compared with controls in the first cohort, whereas that of miR-145-5p showed no significant difference. The diagnostic power of the identified miRNAs was further analyzed using receiver-operating characteristic (ROC). Support vector machine (SVM) measurements revealed that a combination of the significant miRNAs reached good diagnostic accuracy (AUC: 0.907). We further examined an independent testing group and the diagnostic power reached fair for BD-II (specificity = 90%, sensitivity = 85%). We constructed miRNA panels using SVM model, which may aid in the diagnosis for BD-II.