Frontiers in Pediatrics (Jun 2019)

MiR-222-3p in Platelets Serves as a Distinguishing Marker for Early Recognition of Kawasaki Disease

  • Bo Wang,
  • Li-nong Wang,
  • Fang-fang Cheng,
  • Hai-tao Lv,
  • Ling Sun,
  • Dong-kai Wei,
  • Yu Pu,
  • Jie Wu,
  • Yuan-yuan Hou,
  • Bin Wen,
  • Xia-ping Xu,
  • Wen-hua Yan

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2019.00237
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 7

Abstract

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Kawasaki disease (KD) is an acute vasculitis, which leads to 20% of sufferers developing coronary artery aneurysm in children if not appropriately treated. Therefore, the early diagnosis of KD is essential for alleviating the risk of developing heart disease. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a large class of small non-coding RNAs which post-transcriptionally regulate gene expression and have been shown to play critical roles in numerous biological processes and diseases. In this study, we used high-throughput miRNA sequencing and found dozens of miRNAs are highly expressed in platelets. By comparing the miRNA expression profile of platelets of acute KD patients and other febrile patients, miR-222-3p is validated to be significantly upregulated in platelets of acute KD patients. Furthermore, KEGG pathway analysis shows that targets of miR-222-3p are enriched in immune-related signaling pathways. Our study uncovers the potential of miR-222-3p in platelets as biomarker for early diagnosis of Kawasaki disease.

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