Comparative Expression Analysis Of Mir-619-5p In Serum And Pbmcs As A Promising Candidate Biomarker For Autism Spectrum Disorder

In recent years, miRNAs profiling has emerged as a promising tool for molecular diagnostics, prognosis and treatment assessment of a variety of diseases, including neurodevelopmental disorders. The advantages include repeatability and robustness of their quantification by qRT-PCR, and, in the case of circulating miRNAs, non-invasive sampling and well-marked stability of miRNAs in body fluids like serum. Due to the increased prevalence and social burden of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as the still unclear molecular basis of these conditions, they are an example in which such biomarker-based approaches will provide substantial benefits. In the current study, the levels of miR-619-5p have been measured by stem-loop qRT-PCR in the serum and peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs), and compared between ASD patients and healthy controls. The results indicate a statistically significant overexpression of miR-619-5p in serum and PBMCs samples derived from the ASD group, which suggests that the analysed miRNA dysfunction may reflect pathophysiological processes related to ASD. A subsequent ROC curve analysis demonstrated that miR-619-5p is a good predictor for the discrimination of ASD-affected and healthy individuals and could be used with other similarly dysregulated miRNAs to establish an effective diagnostic model.