Abstract:

Objective  To screen abnormally expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) in plasma of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and pulmonary diffuse alveolar hemorrhage (DAH). Methods miRNAs were isolated from plasma samples of five patients with SLE and DAH and five health controls for microarray analysis. The target genes of miRNAs were predicted by miRDB and the PANTHER protein classification system was used to find the gene ontology (GO) of target proteins. Results  Compared with controls, many abnormally expressed miRNAs were found in plasma of patients with SLE and DAH. Expression levels of 59 miRNAs up-regulated by 5 times and expression levels of 15 miRNAs were 30% lower than the normal expression level. Conclusion  Many miRNAs abnormally express in plasma of patients with SLE and DAH, which indicates that some miRNAs may be used to predict the development of disease and prognosis of patients with SLE and DAH.

Key words: systemic lupus erythematosus, diffuse alveolar hemorrhage, miRNAs