Circulating microRNAs in migraine patients: Systematic review and bioinformatic analysis.
Andres Felipe Cardenas-Cruz1, Maria Paula Aguilera-Pena1, Carolina Garcia-Alfonso2
1Valencia International University, 2Pontificia Universidad Javeriana
Objective:
To identify differentially regulated microRNAs between patients with and without migraine.
Background:
Migraine is a common neurological disorder with a high burden of disease. For some years, there has been significant interest in searching for biomarkers that can help diagnose, stratify, and discover new therapies. MicroRNAs are proposed as potential diagnostic biomarkers that can support already established clinical criteria.
Design/Methods:
A systematic search was performed using four databases. Searches were performed using MeSH terms and keywords until August 2021. We included studies that evaluated circulating microRNAs in blood or serum of people with migraine, with no restrictions on age, race, or gender. A narrative synthesis of the findings of the included studies and a summary of deregulated microRNAs in the context of migraine were provided. Functional characterization of microRNAs was performed using DIANA-miRPath v3.0 software, using the KEGG database. In the end, metabolic pathway junctions were searched, and significant up- and down-regulated RNAs were selected.
Results:
In total, 40 circulating microRNAs were identified deregulated with a statistically significant p-value. However, only miR-34a-5p and miR-375 were found to be up-regulated in more than one article. Of the 40 microRNAs, we found 34 up-regulated and 6 down-regulated, no microRNAs were identified deregulated in both directions. The bioinformatic analysis showed the signaling pathways most closely related to the microRNAs studied were the graded acid biosynthesis pathway, the prion disease pathway, and the hippopotamus signaling lifetime.
Conclusions:
Altered levels of microRNAs in human biofluids, specifically in serum and blood, can be used as a potential biomarker in the diagnosis of migraine and differentiation from other types of headache, as well as potentially useful as a marker for follow-up or as a target for treatment; however, further studies are still required.