Plasma miR-124 as a biomarker for cerebral infarction

• Published in: Biomedical Research Vol. 32; no. 2; pp. 135 - 141
• Main Authors: Weng, Huachun, Shen, Chunshen, Hirokawa, Gou, Ji, Xu, Takahashi, Rie, Shimada, Kana, Kishimoto, Chiharu, Iwai, Naoharu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Japan Biomedical Research Press 01.04.2011; Japan Science and Technology Agency
• Subjects: Animals; Biomarkers - blood; Brain - metabolism; Brain - pathology; Cells, Cultured; Cerebral Infarction - blood; Cerebral Infarction - diagnosis; Cerebral Infarction - etiology; Cerebral Infarction - pathology; Disease Models, Animal; Early Diagnosis; Gene Expression Profiling; Humans; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery - complications; Infarction, Middle Cerebral Artery - pathology; Male; MicroRNAs - blood; Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
• ISSN: 0388-6107; 1880-313X
• DOI: 10.2220/biomedres.32.135

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous small RNAs that play an important role in various physiological processes by downregulating target genes. Recently, plasma miRNAs have been investigated as biomarkers for various diseases. In this study, miRNA array analysis in various tissues showed that miR-124 is almost exclusively expressed in the central nervous system and neuronal cells, suggesting that it might be useful as a potential biomarker for neurological diseases. We examined whether plasma concentrations of brain-specific miRNA can serve as a biomarker for cerebral infarction, where the cerebral infarction was modeled by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) in the rat. Plasma concentrations of miR-124 were significantly elevated at 6 h, and remained elevated at 48 h after MCAO introduction. Thus, plasma concentration of miR-124 provides a promising candidate biomarker for early detection of cerebral infarction.