miRNAs in vitreous humor of patients affected by Idiopathic Epiretinal Membrane and Macular Hole

Purpose : The aim of the present study was to assess the expression of miRNAs in the Vitreous Humor (VH) of patients with Macular Hole (MH) and Epiretinal Membrane (ERM) compared to an unaffected control (UC) group. Methods : In this prospective, comparative study, 2-ml of VH was extracted from the core of the vitreous chamber in consecutive patients that underwent standard vitrectomy for ERM and MH. RNA was extracted and TaqMan Low Density Arrays (TLDAs) was performed to profile the transcriptome of 754 miRNAs. Results were validated by single TaqMan assays. Finally we created a biological network of differentially expressed miRNA targets and their nearest neighbours. Results : Overall 10 eyes with MH, 16 eyes with idiopathic ERM and 6 UC were enrolled in the study. Profiling data identified 5 miRNAs differentially expressed in patients affected by vitreoretinal diseases (MH + ERM) with respect to UC. Four were downregulated (miR-19b, miR-24, miR-155, miR-451) and 1 was upregulated (miR-29a); TaqMan assays in VH of patients affected by MH and ERM with respect to UCs showed that the most differentially expressed were miR-19b (FC -9.13, p:<0.00004), mir-24 (FC -7.52, p:<0.004) and miR-142-3p (FC -5.32, p:<0.011) in VH of pathological patients with respect UCs. Our network data showed that deregulation of differentially expressed miRNAs, induces alteration of several pathways associated to gene involved in vitreoretinal diseases. Conclusions : The present study suggests that disregulation of miR-19b, miR-24 and miR-142-3p, might be related to the alterations that characterize patients affected by MH and ERM.