Serum miR-3620-3p as a Novel Biomarker for Ankylosing Spondylitis

Objective. Using microRNA (miR) as a biomarker has been a new way for diagnosing many diseases. Although many studies on miR-biomarker have been published, researches on miR-biomarker in ankylosing spondylitis (AS) are limited. Therefore, the objective of this study was to valiate a candidate serum miR as a novel disease-specific novel miR for AS. Methods. Total RNAs were extracted from sera samples of patients with AS (n = 57), patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (n= 37), or healthy controls (HC) (n = 19). Through serum miR screening by microarray, differential levels of miR were subsequently validated by real time PCR. At the time of serum sampling, clinical values such as sex, age, disease duration, AS-disease activity score, uveitis, peripheral arthritis, enthesitis, human leukocyte antigen-B27 presence, and recent medication were evaluated. Results. We found that the expression level of serum miR-3620-3p in AS was notably lower than that in RA or HC. The receiver-operator characteristics curve for determining the diagnostic accuracy showed an area under the curve of 0.919 (p < 0.001) with a sensitivity of 87.1 and a specificity of 86.0%. Correlation studies showed that the expression level of miR-3620-3p was only associated with the development of uveitis (p<0.05). Conclusion. Serum miR-3620-3p can be as a new biomarker for diagnosing AS.