Serum miR-126 and miR-146a levels in patients with acute cerebral infarction and their relationship with severity of the disease

Objective: To analyze the serum levels of miR-126, miR-146a and its relationship with infarction area, severity of disease and inflammatory reaction degree in patients with acute cerebral infarction (ACI). Methods: A total of 75 cases with ACI treated in our hospital from April 2014 to October 2015 and 80 healthy cases were respectively selected as ACI group and control group for retrospective study. Patients' clinical data were collected, and the serum levels of miR-126, miR-146a, tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 beta) and IL-6 were detected. Results: Serum contents of miR-126 (0.286 +/- 0.078 vs. 1.000 +/- 0.169) and miR-146a (0.337 +/- 0.084 vs. 1.000 +/- 0.158) in patients of ACI group were significantly lower than those of control group. Contents of IL-1 beta [(68.4 +/- 10.3) vs. (22.7 +/- 5.8) ng/L], TNFa [(126.9 +/- 22.4) vs. (49.6 +/- 8.4) ng/L] and IL-6 [(89.3 +/- 14.7) vs. (34.8 +/- 5.9) ng/L] were obviously higher than those of control group. The bigger the infarction area was, the more severer the degree of nerve defect could be. The lower the serum levels of miR-126, miR-146a were, the higher the levels of TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta, IL-6 could be. Levels of miR-126 and miR-146a were negative correlation with levels of TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-6. Conclusions: An abnormal decrease in serum levels of miR-126 and miR-146a in patients with ACI was closely related to the severity of disease. Through regulating the generation of inflammatory factors TNF-alpha, IL-1 beta and IL-6, miR-126 and miR-146a may get involved in the changes of cerebral infarction condition.