Associations of circulating miR-93-5p and miR-197 levels and diabetic kidney disease

Background The progressive loss of kidney function associated with diabetes mellitus is known as diabetic kidney disease (DKD), and its morbidity and mortality are making it a major global issue. Monitoring is unavailable due to the lack of early and credible biomarkers. Several investigations have demonstrated the potential significance of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the field of DKD.ObjectiveThe current research was aimed to evaluate the expression levels of circulating miRNA-93-5p and miR-197 in DKD patients with and without end-stage renal disease (ESRD) as well as their correlations with various clinical parameters. Additionally, to assess the potential utility of these examined miRNAs as biomarkers for detecting the risk of developing DKD. Subjects and methodsA total of 120 subjects were enrolled in the study and classified into three groups: healthy non-diabetic controls (n = 40), the DKD without ESRD group (n = 40), and DKD patients with ESRD (n = 40). The expression levels of circulating miRNAs (miR-93-5p and miR-197) were detected through quantitative real-time PCR. Results and conclusionsOur data revealed that the expression of miR-93-5p was significantly decreased in DKD groups with and without ESRD relative to the control group and it was significantly reduced in DKD with ESRD compared to DKD without ESRD. However, no significant difference in the expression level of miR-197 was observed between the studied groups. In addition, the results of the correlation analysis indicated positive correlations of the miR-93-5p with urea, creatinine, glomerular filtration rate (GFR) and electrolyte levels. Moreover, miR-93-5p had high accuracy in the recessive operating characteristic (ROC) analysis, especially regarding the DKD group with ESRD (96.25%). According to our research, miR-93-5p may be a valuable biomarker for both diabetic kidney disease and the onset of end-stage renal disease within DKD patients.