The clinical value of hsa-miR-190b-5p in peripheral blood of pediatric β-thalassemia and its regulation on BCL11A expression.

Background: The B cell CLL/lymphoma 11A (BCL11A) is a key regulator of hemoglobin switching in β-thalassemia (β-thal). Previous study has suggested that dysregulated microRNAs are involved in the regulation of BCL11A expression. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical value of hsa-miR-190b-5p in β-thal, and to confirm the regulatory effect of hsa-miR-190b-5p on BCL11A expression.
Methods: The peripheral blood of 25 pediatric β-thal patients and 25 healthy controls were selected, and qRT-PCR was used to analyze the levels of hsa-miR-190b-5p and BCL11A mRNA. The relationship between hsa-miR-190b-5p expression and hematological parameters was assessed by Pearson's correlation test. The diagnostic power of hsa-miR-190b-5p was evaluated by ROC curves analysis. The direct integration between hsa-miR-190b-5p and BCL11A 3'-UTR was confirmed by luciferase reporter assay.
Results: Hsa-miR-190b-5p expression in pediatric β-thal was upregulated, and negatively correlated with the MCH and HbA levels, but positively correlated with the HbF level. Hsa-miR-190b-5p showed a good diagnostic capability for pediatric β-thal equivalent to that of HbA2 (AUC: 0.760 vs. 0.758). Moreover, the levels of BCL11A mRNA in pediatric β-thal were decreased, and hsa-miR-190b-5p had a negative correlation with BCL11A mRNA expression (r = -0.403). BCL11A was a target gene of hsa-miR-190b-5p. The mRNA and protein levels of BCL11A were diminished by introduction of hsa-miR-190b-5p, whereas its expression was upregulated by knockdown of hsa-miR-190b-5p.
Conclusions: Hsa-miR-190b-5p expression was upregulated in pediatric β-thal and might be an effective diagnostic biomarker. BCL11A was negatively regulated by hsa-miR-190b-5p, which might provide new target for the treatment of pediatric β-thal.
Competing Interests: The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.
(Copyright: © 2023 Chen et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)