Abstract:
Objective To explore the potential relationship between differential expression of miRNAs in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) and their risk of osteoporotic fractures.
Methods This case-control study was conducted over a 2-year period (from May 2020). Thirty-six patients with osteoporotic COPD with hip fracture admitted to our hospital were selected to be included in the osteoporotic hip fracture (OHF) group, and 44 patients with osteoporotic COPD without hip fracture to be included in the control group. Blood samples from both groups were collected and subjected to an initial miRNA profiling to detect those miRNAs with significant variations based on polymerase chain reactions performed. A real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction-based analysis was then performed for validation of specific miRNAs that were significantly different between the two groups.
Results Patients in the OHF group had significantly lower post-bronchodilator FEV1%, FEV1/FVC ratio and 25-(OH)VitD (P < 0.05), and significantly increased PINP (P < 0.05) compared to controls. Ten differentially expressed miRNAs were detected in both groups, including five miRNAs down-regulated (miR-21-5p, miR-28b-3p, miR-103a-3p, miR-122-5p, miR-125b-5p) and five miRNAs up-regulated (miR-31-5p, mi-143-3p, miR 23b-3p, miR-140-3p, miR-1). The relative expression levels of miR-21-5p were positively correlated with the levels of 25-(OH)VitD (r = 0.518, P < 0.01), and negatively correlated with the levels of PINP (r = −0.547, P < 0.01). miR-31-5p was positively correlated with the levels of 25-(OH)VitD (r = −0.547, P < 0.01). miR-31-5p was negatively correlated with the levels of 25- (OH)VitD (r = −0.388, P < 0.01), and a positive correlation with PINP (r = 0.422, P < 0.01). ROC analysis showed that miR-21-5p predicted hip fracture after COPD osteoporosis with an AUC of 0.897, 95%CI of 0.828−0.966 (P < 0.01), and miR-31-5p predicted an AUC of 0.837 and 95%CI of 0.744−0.930 (P < 0.01) for hip fracture after COPD osteoporosis.
Conclusions miR-21-5p and miR-31-5p may be involved in the occurrence of hip fracture in patients with osteoporosis in COPD and predict the risk of hip fracture development. However, the conclusion of this study needs to be verified in the future large sample prospective study cohort.