Title:Expression of microRNAs (133b and 138) and Correlation with Echocardiographic Parameters in Patients with Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy
Volume: 9
Issue: 2
Author(s): Leiliandry de Araújo Melo, Maria Mariana Barros Melo da Silveira, Isabelle Cecília de Vasconcellos Piscoya, Victor Arthur Eulálio Brasileiro, Isabela Cristina Cordeiro Farias, Kleyton Palmeira do Ó, Carlos Guilhermo Piscoya Roncal, Raul Emídio Lima, Dário Celestino Sobral Filho and Luydson Richardson Silva Vasconcelos*
Affiliation:
- Faculdade de Ciencias Medicas/ Universidade de Pernambuco - FCM/UPE, Recife, Pernambuco,Brazil
Keywords:
Alcoholic cardiomyopathy, biomarkers, cardiomegaly, echocardiography, fibrosis, microRNA.
Abstract:
Introduction: Alcoholic Cardiomyopathy (ACM) is a disease with a difficult diagnosis.
The real mechanisms related to its pathophysiology are not fully understood.
Objective: The aims of this study were to investigate whether miR-133b and miR-138 could be associated
with ACM.
Methods: Forty-four patients were included comprising 24 with ACM and 20 with cardiomyopathies
of different etiologies (control group). Real-time PCR was performed to verify the relative expression
among the studied groups. In the statistical analysis, the quantitative variables t-student Mann-
Whitney and correlation of Pearson tests were carried out, while the qualitative variable comprised
the chi-square test, with p<0.05 being considered statistically significant.
Results: There was no association between clinical and sociodemographic characteristics of the
groups. The patients with ACM presented downregulation of miR-133b in comparison with control
patients (p=0.004). On the other hand, for the miR-138, there was no association when the ACM
group was compared with the control group. The presence of miR-133b among cases and controls
was not correlated with any of the echocardiographic parameters. However, the increase in the expression
of miR-138 was correlated with an increase in the ejection fraction (r=0.28, p=0.01) and the
diameter of the left atrium (r=0.23, p=0.04) in patients with ACM.
Conclusion: The downregulation of miR-133b might be a marker for ACM and, in addition, miR-
138 could be used to correlate the increase in ejection fraction with and normalization of the diameter
of the left atrium diameter in patients with this disease.
