scholarly journals Circulating MicroRNAs as Clinical Biomarkers in the Predictions of Pregnancy Complications

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-8 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marthe Tsochandaridis ◽  
Laurent Nasca ◽  
Caroline Toga ◽  
Annie Levy-Mozziconacci

Predicting pregnancy complications is a major topic for clinicians and biologists for maternal and fetal monitoring. Noninvasive biomarkers in maternal blood such as circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are promising molecules to predict pregnancy disorders. miRNAs are noncoding short RNAs that regulate mRNA expression by repressing the translation or cleaving the transcript. miRNAs are released to the extracellular systemic circulation via exosomes. The discovery of plasma- or serum-derived miRNAs and of free-circulating exosomes that contain miRNAs provides useful information about the physiological or pathophysiological roles of the miRNAs. Specific placental miRNAs are present in maternal plasma in different ways depending on whether the pregnancy is normal or pathological or if there is no pregnancy. This paper focuses on placental miRNAs and extracellular miRNAs to the placenta whose misregulation could lead to pregnancy complications.

2015 ◽  
Vol 2015 ◽  
pp. 1-9 ◽  
Author(s):  
Meng Li ◽  
Junping Zhang

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are composed of a group of endogenous and noncoding small RNAs which control expression of complementary target mRNAs. The extended functions of miRNAs enhance the complexity of gene-regulatory processes in cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. Indeed, recent studies have shown that miRNAs are closely related to myocardial infarction, heart failure, atrial fibrillation, cardiomyopathy, hypertension, angiogenesis, coronary artery disease, dyslipidaemia, stroke, and so forth. These findings suggest a new therapeutic pointcut for cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and show the extensive therapeutic potential of miRNA regulation. Moreover, it has been shown that circulating extracellular miRNAs are stable in bodily fluids, which indicates circulating miRNAs as potential and emerging biomarkers for noninvasive diagnosis. This review highlights the most recent findings indicative of circulating miRNAs as potential clinical biomarkers for diagnosis of cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases.


1996 ◽  
Vol 30 (11) ◽  
pp. 1249-1251 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maria L Santeiro ◽  
Carine Stromquist ◽  
Lance Wyble

OBJECTIVE: To report phenoxybenzamine placental transfer in the treatment of maternal hypertension secondary to pheochromocytoma. CASE SUMMARY: A 22-year-old woman diagnosed with pheochromocytoma was medically managed at 33 weeks gestation with oral phenoxybenzamine and labetalol until delivery 26 days later. To determine phenoxybenzamine placental passage, at the time of cesarean section simultaneous samples were obtained from the cord blood, maternal blood, and amniotic fluid. Additional blood samples were obtained from the newborn at 32 and 80 hours of life. Mean concentrations of phenoxybenzamine from cord and maternal plasma and in amniotic fluid were 103.3,66, and 79.3 ng/mL, respectively; the newborn's plasma concentration at 32 hours of life was 22.3 ng/mL. At the time of delivery, the 2475-g male infant exhibited perinatal depression; mild transient hypotension was also noted for the first few days of life. DISCUSSION: The fetal—maternal plasma accumulation ratio of 1.6:1 indicates that at this gestational age after 26 days of therapy, the placental transfer of phenoxybenzamine occurs and is accompanied by accumulation in the fetal blood. CONCLUSIONS: Because of the placental transfer of phenoxybenzamine, mild perinatal depression and transient hypotension may occur in newborns of mothers receiving this medication. These newborns must be closely monitored during the first few days of life for respiratory depression and hypotension.


2019 ◽  
Vol 55 (83) ◽  
pp. 12451-12454 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suraj Pavagada ◽  
Robert B. Channon ◽  
Jason Y. H. Chang ◽  
Sung Hye Kim ◽  
David MacIntyre ◽  
...  

Low-cost detection of miRNA biomarkers from maternal blood is achieved via a highly sequence-specific templated reaction on nitrocellulose paper strips to enable early prediction of preterm birth in a minimally invasive manner.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 169 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cristina Elena Staicu ◽  
Dragoș-Valentin Predescu ◽  
Călin Mircea Rusu ◽  
Beatrice Mihaela Radu ◽  
Dragos Cretoiu ◽  
...  

Ovarian cancer has the highest mortality rate among gynecological cancers. Early clinical signs are missing and there is an urgent need to establish early diagnosis biomarkers. MicroRNAs are promising biomarkers in this respect. In this paper, we review the most recent advances regarding the alterations of microRNAs in ovarian cancer. We have briefly described the contribution of miRNAs in the mechanisms of ovarian cancer invasion, metastasis, and chemotherapy sensitivity. We have also summarized the alterations underwent by microRNAs in solid ovarian tumors, in animal models for ovarian cancer, and in various ovarian cancer cell lines as compared to previous reviews that were only focused the circulating microRNAs as biomarkers. In this context, we consider that the biomarker screening should not be limited to circulating microRNAs per se, but rather to the simultaneous detection of the same microRNA alteration in solid tumors, in order to understand the differences between the detection of nucleic acids in early vs. late stages of cancer. Moreover, in vitro and in vivo models should also validate these microRNAs, which could be very helpful as preclinical testing platforms for pharmacological and/or molecular genetic approaches targeting microRNAs. The enormous quantity of data produced by preclinical and clinical studies regarding the role of microRNAs that act synergistically in tumorigenesis mechanisms that are associated with ovarian cancer subtypes, should be gathered, integrated, and compared by adequate methods, including molecular clustering. In this respect, molecular clustering analysis should contribute to the discovery of best biomarkers-based microRNAs assays that will enable rapid, efficient, and cost-effective detection of ovarian cancer in early stages. In conclusion, identifying the appropriate microRNAs as clinical biomarkers in ovarian cancer might improve the life quality of patients.


2017 ◽  
Vol 34 (09) ◽  
pp. 918-921 ◽  
Author(s):  
Poppy McLaughlin ◽  
Cheryl Gillis ◽  
Michael Osselton ◽  
Helen Mactier

Background Neonatal abstinence syndrome (NAS) in infants of methadone-maintained opioid-dependent (MMOD) mothers cannot be predicted in individual cases. We investigated whether variation in infant genotype is associated with severity of NAS. Methods This is a pilot observational cohort study of 21 MMOD mothers and their newborns. Infant buccal swabs were obtained soon after delivery, together with a maternal blood sample for the determination of maternal plasma methadone concentration. Genomic variation in five opioid-related genes (ABCB1, COMT, CYP2B6, CYP2D6, and OPRM1) was ascertained from infant buccal swabs and related to need for pharmacological treatment of NAS. Results Out of 21 infants, 11 (52%) required treatment for NAS. Mothers of treated infants tended to have been prescribed higher doses of methadone, but plasma methadone concentrations did not differ between mothers of treated or untreated babies. Treated and untreated babies did not differ in terms of method of feeding. Treated infants were more likely to carry the normal (homozygous) allele at 516 and 785 regions of CYP2B6 gene (p = 0.015 and 0.023, respectively). There were no differences in any other genes between infants who did or did not require treatment for NAS. Conclusion Genomic variation in CYP2B6 may explain, at least in part, severity of NAS.


Cancers ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (11) ◽  
pp. 3455
Author(s):  
Blanca Ortiz-Quintero

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are released by different types of cells through highly regulated mechanisms under normal and pathological conditions. These extracellular miRNAs can be delivered into recipient cells for functional purposes, acting as cell-to-cell signaling mediators. It has been discovered that cancer cells release miRNAs into their surroundings, targeting normal cells or other cancer cells, presumably to promote tumor development and progression. These extracellular miRNAs are associated with oncogenic mechanisms and, because they can be quantified in blood and other bodily fluids, may be suitable noninvasive biomarkers for cancer detection. This review summarizes recent evidence of the role of extracellular miRNAs as intercellular mediators, with an emphasis on their role in the mechanisms of tumor development and progression and their potential value as biomarkers in solid tumors. It also highlights the biological characteristics of extracellular miRNAs that enable them to function as regulators of gene expression, such as biogenesis, gene silencing mechanisms, subcellular compartmentalization, and the functions and mechanisms of release.


2010 ◽  
Vol 56 (1) ◽  
pp. 90-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yu K Tong ◽  
Shengnan Jin ◽  
Rossa WK Chiu ◽  
Chunming Ding ◽  
KC Allen Chan ◽  
...  

Abstract Background: The use of fetal DNA in maternal plasma for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis of trisomy 21 (T21) is an actively researched area. We propose a novel method of T21 detection that combines fetal-specific epigenetic and genetic markers. Methods: We used combined bisulfite restriction analysis to search for fetal DNA markers on chromosome 21 that were differentially methylated in the placenta and maternal blood cells and confirmed any target locus with bisulfite sequencing. We then used methylation-sensitive restriction endonuclease digestion followed by microfluidics digital PCR analysis to investigate the identified marker. Chromosome-dosage analysis was performed by comparing the dosage of this epigenetic marker with that of the ZFY (zinc finger protein, Y-linked) gene on chromosome Y. Results: The putative promoter of the HLCS (holocarboxylase synthetase) gene was hypermethylated in the placenta and hypomethylated in maternal blood cells. A chromosome-dosage comparison of the hypermethylated HLCS and ZFY loci could distinguish samples of T21 and euploid placental DNA. Twenty-four maternal plasma samples from euploid pregnancies and 5 maternal plasma samples from T21 pregnancies were analyzed. All but 1 of the euploid samples were correctly classified. Conclusions: The epigenetic–genetic chromosome-dosage approach is a new method for noninvasive prenatal detection of T21. The epigenetic part of the analysis can be applied to all pregnancies. Because the genetic part of the analysis uses paternally inherited, fetal-specific genetic markers that are abundant in the genome, broad population coverage should be readily achievable. This approach has the potential to become a generally usable technique for noninvasive prenatal diagnosis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 98 ◽  
Author(s):  
ANNA KERAVNOU ◽  
MARIOS IOANNIDES ◽  
KYRIAKOS TSANGARAS ◽  
CHARALAMBOS LOIZIDES ◽  
MICHAEL D. HADJIDANIEL ◽  
...  

SummaryDNA methylation is an epigenetic marker that has been shown to vary significantly across different tissues. Taking advantage of the methylation differences between placenta-derived cell-free DNA and maternal blood, several groups employed different approaches for the discovery of fetal-specific biomarkers. The aim of this study was to analyse whole-genome fetal and maternal methylomes in order to identify and confirm the presence of differentially methylated regions (DMRs). We have initially utilized methylated DNA immunoprecipitation (MeDIP) and next-generation sequencing (NGS) to identify genome-wide DMRs between chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and female non-pregnant plasma (PL) and peripheral blood (WBF) samples. Next, using specific criteria, 331 fetal-specific DMRs were selected and confirmed in eight CVS, eight WBF and eight PL samples by combining MeDIP and in-solution targeted enrichment followed by NGS. Results showed higher enrichment in CVS samples as compared to both WBF and PL samples, confirming the distinct methylation levels between fetal and maternal DNA for the selected DMRs. We have successfully implemented a novel approach for the discovery and confirmation of a significant number of fetal-specific DMRs by combining for the first time MeDIP and in-solution targeted enrichment followed by NGS. The implementation of this double-enrichment approach is highly efficient and enables the detailed analysis of multiple DMRs by targeted NGS. Also, this is, to our knowledge, the first reported application of MeDIP on plasma samples, which leverages the implementation of our enrichment methodology in the detection of fetal abnormalities in maternal plasma.


2005 ◽  
Vol 51 (3) ◽  
pp. 652-655 ◽  
Author(s):  
Satheesh Kumar Reddy Chinnapapagari ◽  
Wolfgang Holzgreve ◽  
Olav Lapaire ◽  
Bernhard Zimmermann ◽  
Sinuhe Hahn

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