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Lookup NU author(s): Professor Jordi Diaz ManeraORCiD
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (CC BY 4.0).
Myasthenia gravis (MG) is an autoimmune disease characterized by the presence of autoantibodies, mainly against the acetylcholine receptor (AChR). The mechanisms triggering and maintaining this chronic disease are unknown. MiRNAs are regulatory molecules that play a key role in the immune system and are altered in many autoimmune diseases. The aim of this study was to evaluate miRNA profiles in serum of 61 AChR MG patients. We studied serum from patients with early onset MG (n=22), late onset MG (n=27) and thymoma (n =12), to identify alterations in the specific subgroups. In a discovery cohort, we analysed 381 miRNA arrays from 5 patients from each subgroup, and 5 healthy controls. The 15 patients had not received any treatment. We found 32 miRNAs in different levels in MG and analysed 8 of these in a validation cohort that included 46 of the MG patients. MiR15b, miR122, miR-140-3p, miR185, miR192, miR20b and miR-885-5p were in lower levels in MG patients than in controls. Our study suggests that different clinical phenotypes in MG share common altered mechanisms in circulating miRNAs, with no additional contribution of the thymoma. MG treatment intervention does not modify the profile of these miRNAs. Novel insights into the pathogenesis of MG can be reached by the analysis of circulating miRNAs since some of these miRNAs have also been found low in MG peripheral mononuclear cells, and have targets with important roles in B cell survival and antibody production. Copyright: © 2014 Nogales-Gadea et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
Author(s): Nogales-Gadea G, Ramos-Fransi A, Suarez-Calvet X, Navas M, Rojas-Garcia R, Mosquera JL, Diaz-Manera J, Querol L, Gallardo E, Illa I
Publication type: Article
Publication status: Published
Journal: PLoS ONE
Year: 2014
Volume: 9
Issue: 3
Online publication date: 17/03/2014
Acceptance date: 17/02/2014
Date deposited: 25/02/2020
ISSN (electronic): 1932-6203
Publisher: Public Library of Science
URL: https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0091927
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0091927
PubMed id: 24637658
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