Cardiovascular Diabetology (Mar 2022)

Lower miR-21/ROS/HNE levels associate with lower glycemia after habit-intervention: DIAPASON study 1-year later

  • Lucia La Sala,
  • Elena Tagliabue,
  • Simona Mrakic-Sposta,
  • Anna Chiara Uccellatore,
  • Pamela Senesi,
  • Ileana Terruzzi,
  • Emilio Trabucchi,
  • Luigi Rossi-Bernardi,
  • Livio Luzi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12933-022-01465-0
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 21, no. 1
pp. 1 – 13

Abstract

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Abstract Background The prevalence of prediabetes is increasing in the global population and its metabolic derangements may expose to a higher risk to develop type 2 diabetes (T2D) and its cardiovascular burden. Lifestyle modifications might have considerable benefits on ameliorating metabolic status. Alternative biomarkers, such as circulating miR-21, has been recently discovered associated with dysglycemia. Here we evaluated, in a longitudinal cohort of dysglycemic population the relation between the circulating miR-21/ROS/HNE levels and the habit-intervention (HI) after 1 year of follow-up. Methods 1506 subjects from DIAPASON study were screened based on the Findrisc score. Of them, 531 subjects with Findrisc ≥ 9 were selected for dysglycemia (ADA criteria) and tested for circulating miR-21, ROS and HNE levels, as damaging-axis. 207 subjects with dysglycemia were re-evaluated after 1-year of habit intervention (HI). Repeated measures tests were used to evaluate changes from baseline to 1-year of follow-up. The associations between glycemic parameters and miR-21/ROS/HNE were implemented by linear regression and logistic regression models. Results After HI, we observed a significant reduction of miR-21/ROS/HNE axis in dysglycemic subjects, concomitantly with ameliorating of metabolic parameters, including insulin resistance, BMI, microalbuminuria, reactive hyperemia index and skin fluorescence. Significant positive interaction was observed between miR-21 axis with glycaemic parameters after HI. Lower miR-21 levels after HI, strongly associated with a reduction of glycemic damaging-axis, in particular, within-subjects with values of 2hPG < 200 mg/dL. Conclusions Our findings demonstrated that HI influenced the epigenetic changes related to miR-21 axis, and sustain the concept of reversibility from dysglycemia. These data support the usefulness of novel biological approaches for monitoring glycemia as well as provide a screening tool for preventive programmes.

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