Plasma Exosomal MiR-106a-5p Expression in Myasthenia Gravis

Background: Exosomal miRNA expression for myasthenia gravis (MG) has not been studied.

Methods: Plasma samples from 92 patients with MG and 49 age-matched healthy controls (HCs) were screened (by means of deep sequencing and quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction) for differentially expressed exosomal microRNA (miRNAs). miR-106a-5p was chosen to further verify because it is reportedly involved in MG pathogenesis. Spearman's correlation analysis was used to assess correlations between candidate miRNAs and patient quantitative MG scores (QMGSs). Area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic analysis was used to evaluate the diagnostic accuracy of the identified miRNAs for MG.

Results: miR-106a-5p levels were significantly decreased in MG patients compared with HCs, and were associated with patient QMGS. The AUC values for hsa-miR-106a-5p were 0.728 and 0.813 in ocular and generalized MG patients, respectively.

Conclusions: Exosomal miR-106a-5p was expressed differently in different types of MG and was associated with MG severity.