Serum MiRNA Expression and Correlation with Clinical Characteristics in Acute Kidney Injury

Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a common clinical emergency. Its fatality rate and mortality exhibit a rising trend following the increase of aging population. MiRNA participates in disease occurrence and development via targeting mRNA expression. Previous study indicated that miRNA expression was different in peripheral blood from AKT patients. However, there is still lack of related report about miRNA expression spectrum and correlation with clinical features. MiRNA microarray was applied to test miRNA expression in the serum of acute kidney injury patients. qRT-PCR was adopted to verify the differentially expressed miRNAs. Their correlation with the staging was analyzed. A total of 14 miRNAs exhibited upregulation, while 10 miRNAs presented downregulation in AKI patients compared with healthy control. Real-time PCR revealed that 14 selected miRNAs were obviously different. Correlation analysis demonstrated that miR-210, miR-21, miR-34 were positively correlated with AKI clinical staging (r = 0.56, < 0.05; r = 0.32, < 0.05; r = 0.38, < 0.05, respectively). MiR-16 showed negative correlation with clinical staging (r = -0.34, < 0.05). Multiple miRNAs were differentially expressed in the serum of AKI patients. MiR-210, miR-21, and miR-34 were correlated with AKI staging that could be treated as the biomarker of AKI.