E-Book

E-Book 3rd Congress

  • Exploring the Role of MicroRNA-125b (a new biomarker), signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) Genes in Blood Leukocytes of Atherosclerosis Patients; A Case-Control Study
  • Gholamreza Shahsavari,1,* Atefeh Mirderikvand,2 Alireza Moayyed Kazemi,3 Fatemeh Ahmadpour,4 Banafsheh Yalameha,5
    1. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
    2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
    3. Department of Internal Medicine, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
    4. Nutritional Health Research Center, Lorestan University of Medical Sciences, Khorramabad, Iran
    5. Department of Biochemistry and Clinical Laboratories, Faculty of Medicine, Tabriz University of Medical Sciences, Tabriz, Iran


  • Introduction: Atherosclerosis (AS) is an inflammatory disease of the arterial wall that is associated with vascular events. miR-125b dysregulation contributes to the pathogenesis of cardiovascular diseases. Moreover, there is evidence of the involvement of signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) and sirtuin 6 (SIRT6) in AS. This study aimed to survey expression levels of miR-125b, STAT3, and SIRT6 in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of AS patients and controls and finding their correlations with biochemical parameters and risk factors.
  • Methods: This study was performed on blood samples of 45 controls and 45 AS patients and PBMCs were isolated by Ficoll solution. The expression levels of miR-125b, STAT3, and SIRT6 were determined by quantitative Real Time- PCR.
  • Results: The results showed a significant increase in miR-125b levels in the patients compared to controls (P = 0.017). However, expression alterations of STAT3 and SIRT6 were not meaningful (P > 0.05). No substantial relationship was found between miR-125b and STAT3 (P = 0.522) and SIRT6 (P = 0.88). miR-125b indicated a significant relationship with atherogenic indexes and creatinine (P < 0.05) and the association of SIRT6 with HDL and creatinine was substantial (P < 0.05). STAT3 had high diagnostic power to detect individuals at risk of heart disease and hypertension (P < 0.05).
  • Conclusion: STAT3 could serve as a valuable biomarker for the detection of AS and AS-related risk factors. miR-125b and SIRT6 had an association with AS lipid metabolism. Nevertheless, we suggest conducting further studies with larger-size samples to mechanistically elucidate the association of these genes.
  • Keywords: Atherosclerosis, microRNA-125b, Signal transducer and activator of transcription 3, Sirtuin 6, Leuko