An increase in the expression of circulating miR30d-5p and miR126-3p is associated with intermediate hyperglycaemia in Iranian population

Type 2 diabetes is the most prevalent metabolic disease worldwide. The disease is characterised by high blood glucose levels and recently it has been shown that changes in the plasma levels of several miRNAs (miRNA) are associated with the disease. Interestingly, alterations in circulating miRNAs occur years before the onset of the disease and demonstrate predictive power. In this study, we carried out RT-qPCR to examine the plasma levels of two type 2 diabetes specific miRNAs, miR-30d-5p and miR-126-3p in an Iranian population of non-diabetic control individuals, subjects with intermediate hyperglycaemia and type 2 diabetic individuals with hyperglycaemia. We found that the plasma levels of miR-30d and miR-126 increase by 3.1 and 11.16 times, respectively, in individuals with intermediate hyperglycaemia compared to non-diabetic controls. However, no significant changes in the expression of these two miRNAs have been observed between type 2 diabetic individuals and non-diabetic subjects. Our results confirm that alterations in the plasma levels of miR-30d-5p and miR-126-3p could be used as diagnostic markers of type 2 diabetes in the Iranian population as well.