Plasma miRNAs might be promising biomarkers of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Background and AimsWe previously showed that microRNAs (miRNAs) in plasma are potential biomarkers for cigarette smoking-related lung fibrosis. Here, we want to find out promising miRNAs for early detection of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Methods and ResultsPlasma miRNAs profiling was performed in COPD patients, asthma patients, and matched healthy controls. There was a >2-fold changes for all signature miRNAs between the COPD and control samples, with P values of <0.05. Pathway analysis, taking into account enriched target mRNAs for these signature miRNAs, was also carried out. We found seven miRNAs were special expression in the COPD patients. Furthermore, changes of miR-145-5p, miR-338-3p and miR-3620-3p were consistent with the classification of new ABCD classification of COPD. Targeted gene promising proved those miRNAs acted in inflammatory mediators, regulation of proliferation and differentiation, oxidative stress and so on. ConclusionsThese results suggested that plasma miRNAs could be potential specific biomarker for early detection COPD.