Age-Related sncRNAs in Human Hippocampal Tissue Samples: Focusing on Deregulated miRNAs

Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs), particularly microRNAs (miRNAs), play an important role in transcriptome regulation by binding to mRNAs and post-transcriptionally inhibiting protein production. This regulation occurs in both physiological and pathological conditions, where the expression of many miRNAs is altered. Previous reports by our group and others have demonstrated that miRNA expression is also altered during aging. However, most studies have analyzed human peripheral blood samples or brain samples from animal models, leaving a gap in knowledge regarding miRNA expression in the human brain. In this work, we analyzed the expression of sncRNAs from coronal sections of human hippocampal samples, a tissue with a high vulnerability to deleterious conditions such as aging. Samples from young (n = 5, 27-49 years old), old (n = 8, 58-88 years old), and centenarian (n = 3, 97, 99, and 100 years old) individuals were included. Our results reveal that sncRNAs, particularly miRNAs, are differentially expressed (DE) in the human hippocampus with aging. Besides, miRNA-mediated regulatory networks revealed significant interactions with mRNAs deregulated in the same hippocampal samples. Surprisingly, 80% of DE mRNA in the centenarian vs. old comparison are regulated by hsa-miR-192-5p and hsa-miR-3135b. Additionally, validated hsa-miR-6826-5p, hsa-let-7b-3p, hsa-miR-7846, and hsa-miR-451a emerged as promising miRNAs that are deregulated with aging and should be further investigated.