SERUM MIR-9A AND MIR-133B, DIAGNOSTIC MARKERS FOR PARKINSON'S DISEASE, ARE UP-REGULATED AFTER LEVODOPA TREATMENT

This study aimed to explore the role of miR-9a and miR-133b in the diagnosis and treatment of Parkinson's disease (PD). Eighty-five patients with PD admitted to People's Hospital of Rizhao from June 2014 to August 2017 (group A) were treated with levodopa. Meanwhile, 50 health individuals (group B) were recruited. The relative expressions of serum miR-9a and miR-133b were determined by reverse transcription quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic values of serum miR-9a and miR-133b in PD were evaluated using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. Spearman was used to analyze the correlations between the relative expressions of serum miR-9a, miR-133b and Hoehn-Yahr stage and clinical efficacy. The relative expressions of serum miR-9a and miR-133b in group A were significantly lower than those in group B (P<0.001). The ROC curves showed that the sensitivity and specificity of serum miR-9a for PD diagnosis were 90.59% and 70.00%, respectively, those of serum miR-133b were 83.53% and 82.00%, while those of the combined detection were 89.41% and 88.00%, respectively. The relative expressions of serum miR-9a and miR-133b were negatively correlated with the Hoehn-Yahr stage (P<0.001). The AUC of miR-9a and miR-133b in distinguishing Hoehn-Yahr stages I and II were 0.855 and 0.839, respectively, that in distinguishing stages I and III were 0.957 and 0.973, and that in distinguishing stages II and III were 0.872 and 0.795 respectively. The expressions of serum miR-9a and miR-133b increased significantly after treatment, and were positively correlated with the improvement of clinical efficacy (P<0.001). miR-9a and miR-133b are down-regulated in patients with PD and can be used as potential biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment evaluation of PD.