Researcher at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel, have proposed a "liquid-biopsy-like" alternative to surgery by measuring circulating miRNAs. Previous studies have shown that measuring levels of visceral adipose tissue (VAT) inflammation gives a good approximation of cardiometabolic risk. However, currently VAT inflammation cannot be measured without invasive surgery. The study investigators have found that the combined levels of two or three circulating miRNAs was a good indication of high VAT inflammation.
The scientists, led by Dr Isana Veksler-Lublinsky and Professor Assaf Rudich, used samples donated to an adipose tissue biobank from 35 people who underwent bariatric surgery at Soroka University Medical Center. An additional 51 people were used as a validation cohort. Participants were aged 18 to 70 with a BMI of 30 or greater and no known malignancies.
VAT inflammation was classified into low/high based on an expression score derived from the messenger RNA levels of TNFA, IL6, and CCL2 (determined by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction). Differentially expressed circ-miRs were identified, and their discriminative power to detect low/high VAT inflammation was assessed by receiver operating characteristic–area under the curve analysis.
They identified three circulating miRNAs that, taken together, served as a good indicator of VAT inflammation level. miRNAs are short, noncoding RNA molecules that function as negative regulators of gene expression by two main processes that rely on sequence recognition of target messenger RNAs (mRNA): mRNA destabilisation and translational inhibition. Adipose tissue, particularly in those who are living with obesity, is thought to produce up to 50% of circulating miRNA.
While one of the circulating miRNAs they focused on by itself did not differentiate well, the molecule in combination with one or two others, did.
"Circulating miRNAs 181b-5p, with either 1306-3p, or 3138 indicated with a high level of accuracy levels of VAT inflammation. It is a first step in personalized medical care for those living with obesity by giving them a better indication of whether their condition imposes a particularly high health risk or not," explained Dr Veksler-Lublinsky of the Department of Software & Information Systems Engineering. Professor Rudich is a member of the Department of Clinical Biochemistry and Pharmacology.
The findings were featured in the paper, ‘Circulating miRNAs Detect High vs Low Visceral Adipose Tissue Inflammation in Patients Living With Obesity’, published in The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, and were also presented at the annual conference of the Israeli Association for the Study of Obesity post publication.
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