RHEUMATOLOGY INTERNATIONAL, vol.41, no.1, pp.103-111, 2021 (SCI-Expanded)
Objectives Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is the most common hereditary autoinflammatory disorder characterized by recurrent fever and serositis episodes. Identification of low penetrant or heterozygousMEFVmutations in clinically diagnosed FMF patients did raise a concern on whether epigenetic or environmental factors play an additional role in FMF pathogenesis. We aimed to investigate the expression profile of apoptosis-related miRNAs in FMF and their influence on clinical manifestations in the present study. Method 191 pediatric FMF patients and 31 healthy children included in the study. Expressions of 33 apoptosis-related, circulating cell-free miRNAs were evaluated by a quantitative polymerase chain reaction, statistically calculated within Delta Delta Ct values and fold changes were evaluated by WelchTtest, in whichp < 0.05 were considered to be significant. Results Nineteen miRNAs, including let-7a-5p, let-7c, let-7 g-5p, miR-15b-5p, miR-16-5p, miR-17-5p, miR-23a-3p, miR-24-3p, miR-25-3p, miR-26a-5p, miR-26b-5p, miR-27a-3p, miR-29c-3p, miR-30a-5p, miR-30d-5p, miR-30e-5p, miR-106b-5p, miR-146a-5p, and miR-195-5p, were found down-regulated; miR-15a-5p, miR-29b-3p, miR-181a-5p, miR-181b-5p, miR-181c-5p, miR-214-3p, and miR-365a-3p were up-regulated in FMF patients. In detail, these miRNAs were similar among FMF patients in terms of genotype, colchicine response, and having an inflammatory attack during analysis. Conclusion We found that 26 apoptosis-related circulating miRNAs were deregulated in children with FMF. Thus, we speculate that these miRNAs have a role in FMF pathogenesis via apoptotic mechanisms.