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Circulating microRNA Profiles as Liquid Biopsies for the Characterization and Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia Syndrome

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Abstract

This work was aimed at investigating the circulating microRNA (miRNA) profiles in serum and saliva of patients affected by fibromyalgia syndrome (FM), correlating their expression values with clinical and clinimetric parameters and to suggest a mathematical model for the diagnosis of FM. A number of 14 FM patients and sex- and age-matched controls were enrolled in our study. The expression of a panel of 179 miRNAs was evaluated by qPCR. Statistical analyses were performed in order to obtain a mathematical linear model, which could be employed as a supporting tool in the diagnosis of FM. Bioinformatics analysis on miRNA targets were performed to obtain the relevant biological processes related to FM syndrome and to characterize in details the disease. Six miRNAs were found downregulated in FM patients compared to controls. Five of these miRNAs have been included in a linear predictive model that reached a very high sensitivity (100 %) and a high specificity (83.3 %). Moreover, miR-320b displayed a significant negative correlation (r = −0.608 and p = 0.036) with ZSDS score. Finally, several biological processes related to brain function/development and muscular functions were found potentially implicated in FM syndrome. Our study suggests that the study of circulating miRNA profiles coupled to statistical and bioinformatics analyses is a useful tool to better characterize the FM syndrome and to propose a preliminary model for its diagnosis.

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Acknowledgments

The authors thank Dr. Letizia Da Sacco for technical discussions about the quantification of circulating miRNAs from serum.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Ospedale Pediatrico Bambino Gesù, Gene Expression–Microarrays Laboratory, V.le di San Paolo 15, 00146, Rome, Italy

    Andrea Masotti & Antonella Baldassarre

  2. Rheumatology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine and Medical Specialities, Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy

    Maria Paola Guzzo, Cristina Iannuccelli & Manuela Di Franco

  3. Institute of Cell Biology and Neurobiology (IBCN), National Research Council (CNR), Via del Fosso di Fiorano, 64 00143, Rome, Italy

    Christian Barbato

Authors
  1. Andrea Masotti
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  2. Antonella Baldassarre
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  3. Maria Paola Guzzo
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  4. Cristina Iannuccelli
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  5. Christian Barbato
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  6. Manuela Di Franco
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Christian Barbato or Manuela Di Franco.

Ethics declarations

The study was conducted according to the protocol and good clinical practice principles and the Declaration of Helsinki statements. All patients gave their informed consent and the study was approved by the local Ethical Committee.

Funding

This work was supported by the SAPIENZA University of Rome to M.D.F, by the Italian Ministry of Health to A.M. and by the Italian Ministry for Education, University and Research in the framework of the Flagship Project NanoMAX to C.B.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Additional information

Key Messages

- Serum miRNAs correlate with major fibromyalgia (FM) symptoms

- A statistical linear model made of five miRNAs could discriminate FM patients from controls

- Liquid biopsies collected from different body parts have different miRNA profiles

Andrea Masotti and Antonella Baldassarre equally contributed to the work.

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Masotti, A., Baldassarre, A., Guzzo, M.P. et al. Circulating microRNA Profiles as Liquid Biopsies for the Characterization and Diagnosis of Fibromyalgia Syndrome. Mol Neurobiol 54, 7129–7136 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-016-0235-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12035-016-0235-2

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