Rapid diagnosis of acute myocardial infarction based on reverse transcription-accelerated strand exchange amplification of miR-208a

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a prevalent cardiovascular disease associated with high morbidity and mortality, posing a significant threat to human health. Therefore, early diagnosis of AMI has become a focal point of research. MiR-208 is specifically expressed in the heart and is involved in the regulation of cardiomyocyte hypertrophy, cardiac fibrosis, and other myocardial gene expressions. It is expected to be applied in the clinical detection of AMI due to its release by damaged myocardial cells within 3 hours of AMI. In this study, we developed a denatured bubble-mediated reverse transcription-accelerated strand exchange amplification (RT-ASEA) method to detect the early biomarker miR-208a of AMI. The novel approach allowed rapid amplification of miR-208a in 15 minutes, with good performance in terms of repeatability (CV < 6%), determination limit (1 x 10(0) pmol L-1), and linearity (R-2 = 0.9690). Based on the analysis of 42 clinical samples, a strong correlation was observed between the Ct value of miR-208a detected by the RT-ASEA method and the cTnI concentration, considered the gold standard for diagnosis of AMI. The research suggested that the RT-ASEA method could be applied to distinguish between AMI and healthy groups. The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) was 0.9976, with a sensitivity of 96% and a specificity of 100%. Optimized RT-ASEA is a reliable and efficient method for miRNA detection. Furthermore, this study provides crucial data support for the development of miR-208a as an early biomarker for AMI, which is of great significance in life and health.

Automated summary

Acute myocardial infarction (AMI) is a serious cardiovascular disease with a high rate of morbidity and mortality. Early diagnosis of AMI is crucial, and miR-208 has potential as an early biomarker due to its specific expression in the heart and release by damaged myocardial cells soon after AMI. In this study, a denatured bubble-mediated RT-ASEA method was developed for rapid and efficient detection of miR-208a. The method showed good performance in terms of repeatability, determination limit, and linearity, and demonstrated strong correlation with the gold standard cTnI concentration for AMI diagnosis. The RT-ASEA method could effectively distinguish between AMI and healthy groups, with high sensitivity and specificity. This study provides important support for the development of miR-208a as an early biomarker for AMI.