Disparate miRNA expression in serum and plasma of patients with acute myocardial infarction: a systematic and paired comparative analysis
Ana Mompeón, Luis Ortega‐Paz, Xavier Vidal‐Gómez, Tiago J. Costa, Daniel Pérez‐Cremades, Sergio García‐Blas, Salvatore Brugaletta, Juan Sanchís, Manel Sabaté, Susana Novella, Ana Paula Dantas, Carlos Hermenegildo
Abstract
Abstract Despite the promising value of miRNAs in the diagnostic and prognostic of cardiovascular disease (CVD), recent meta-analyses did not support their potential. Methodological variances in studies may interfere with miRNA profile and affect their results. This study determines if the blood starting material is a source of variance in miRNA profile by performing a paired comparison in plasma and serum of the expression of primary miRNAs associated with CVD. Circulating miRNA yield was similar in both plasma and serum, although a significant increase was observed in patients with Non-ST-elevation myocardial infarction (NSTEMI) compared to control volunteers. When normalized by the expression of miR-484, different patterns of miRNA expression between serum and plasma. Although NSTEMI modified the expression of miR-1 and miR-208 in both serum and plasma, plasma displayed a higher variance than serum (Levene’s test p < 0.01). For miR-133a and miR-26a, differences were only detected in serum (p = 0.0240), and conversely, miR-499a showed differences only in plasma of NSTEMI (p = 0.001). Interestingly, miR-21 showed an opposite pattern of expression, being increased in serum (2 −ΔΔCt : 5.7, p = 0.0221) and decreased in plasma (2 −ΔΔCt : 0.5, p = 0.0107). Plasma and serum exhibit different patterns of circulating miRNA expression in NSTEMI and suggest that results from studies with different starting material could not be comparable.