MicroRNA-495 serves as a diagnostic biomarker in patients with sepsis and regulates sepsis-induced inflammation and cardiac dysfunction

Background Sepsis leads to severe inflammatory and cardiac dysfunction. This study aimed to explore the clinical value of miR-495 in sepsis, as well as its role in sepsis-induced inflammation and cardiac dysfunction. Methods 105 sepsis patients were recruited; receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was plotted to assess the diagnostic value of miR-495 in sepsis. A model of sepsis in rats was created via performing cecal ligation and puncture (CLP). After modeling, the cardiac function, including left ventricular systolic pressure (LVSP), left ventricular end diastolic pressure (LVEDP) and maximum rate of rise/fall of left ventricle pressure (+/- dp/dt(max)), and serum cardiac troponin I (CTn-I), creative kinase isoenzyme MB (CK-MB) were detected. The blood cytokines levels including TNF-alpha, IL-6, IL-1 beta were also measured. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used for the measurement of the expression level of miR-495. Results MiR-495 was significantly downregulated in sepsis patients, especially patients who suffered from septic shock (SS). MiR-495 expression was negatively associated with Scr, WBC, CRP, PCT, APACHE II score and SOFA score. MiR-495 could distinguish patients with SS from non-SS patients. MiR-495 and SOFA score were better indictors for the occurrence of cardiac dysfunction in sepsis patients. In CLP-induced sepsis model. CLP rats experienced deterioration of LVSP, LVEDP, +/- dp/dt(max), and had a rise in serum CTn-I, CK-MB, TNF-alpha, IL-6 and IL-1 beta, which were improved by miR-495 agomir injection. Conclusions MiR-495 might be a potential diagnostic biomarker for sepsis patients, and overexpression of miR-495 alleviated sepsis-induced inflammation and cardiac dysfunction.