Study on the correlation between peripheral blood miR-21 and miR-15b expression levels and the degree of optic nerve damage and inflammatory response in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma

Yang Yang; Wan Wei; Wang Yaqi; Ji Kaibao; Zhang Wenqian; Chen Ting

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1671-6450.2025.03.017

Abstract：Objective To investigate the correlation between the expression levels of peripheral blood microRNA-21(miR-21)and microRNA-15b(miR-15b)in patients with primary open-angle glaucoma(POAG)and the degree of optic nerve damage and inflammatory response.Methods A total of 112 POAG patients admitted to Department of Ophthalmolo-gy,Wuhan University People's Hospital from March 2023 to March 2024 were included as the case group.Patients were as-signed into mild subgroup(n=47),moderate subgroup(n=35),and severe subgroup(n=30)based on the degree of optic nerve damage assessed by the mean defect value(MD).Another 100 healthy individuals who underwent physical checkups were selected as the control group.Real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR was applied to detect the expression levels of miR-21 and miR-15b in peripheral blood.Pearson correlation was applied to analyze the correlation between peripheral blood miR-21,miR-15b levels and inflammatory index in POAGpatients.ROC curve was applied to analyze the evaluation value of peripheral blood miR-21 and miR-15b in assessing the degree of optic nerve damage.Results The levels of low-density lip-oprotein cholesterol(LDL-C)and peripheral blood miR-21 in the case group were obviously higher than those in the control group,while the levels of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol(HDL-C)and peripheral blood miR-15b were obviously lower than those in the control group(t/P=3.902/＜0.001,9.209/＜0.001,4.913/＜0.001,17.764/＜0.001).The level of miR-21 in pe-ripheral blood of the severe subgroup was obviously higher than that of the mild and moderate subgroups,while the level of miR-15b was obviously lower than that of the mild and moderate groups(F/P=41.478/＜0.001,15.411/＜0.001).The levels of inflammatory markers interleukin-1β(IL-1β)and interleukin-18(IL-18)in the case group were obviously higher than those in the control group,while the levels of interleukin-6(IL-6)and interleukin-12(IL-12)in peripheral blood were obviously lower than those in the control group(t/P=19.781/＜0.001,28338/＜0.001,20271/＜0.001,16.786/＜0.001).The level of miR-21 in pe-ripheral blood of patients was positively correlated with inflammatory markers IL-1β and IL-18,and negatively correlated with IL-6 and IL-12.The level of miR-15b in peripheral blood was negatively correlated with inflammatory markers IL-1β and IL-18,and positively correlated with IL-6 and IL-12(r/P=0.572/＜0.001,0.632/＜0.001,-0.518/＜0.001,-0.498/＜0.001,-0.621/＜0.001,-0.563/＜0.001,0.598/＜0.001,0.612/＜0.001).The area under the curve(AUC)of peripheral blood miR-21,miR-15b and their combination to evaluate the degree of optic nerve injury in POAG patients were 0.841,0.757 and 0.898,respectively.The AUC of miR-21 and miR-15b in peripheral blood was better than that of Mir-21 and Mir-15b alone(Z/P=2.900/0.004,2.743/0.006).Conclusion The level of miR-21 in peripheral blood of POAG patients is obviously increased,while the level of miR-15b in peripheral blood is obviously decreased.They are closely related to the degree of optic nerve damage and in-flammatory response.The combined detection of the two has higher evaluation value for the degree of optic nerve damage in POAGpatients.