Supervisors info:
Δεδούσης Γεώργιος, Καθηγητής, Τμήμα Επιστήμης Διαιτολογίας-Διατροφής, Χαροκόπειο Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Τζέτη Μαρία, Αναπληρώτρια Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Συνοδινού Traeger Ιωάννα-Ραχήλ, Καθηγήτρια, Ιατρική Σχολή, Εθνικό και Καποδιστριακό Πανεπιστήμιο Αθηνών
Summary:
Introduction and purpose: Cardiovascular diseases and especially coronary heart disease are the leading cause of death worldwide, as in our country. The combination of genetic, epigenetic and environmental factors contributes to the emergence and progression of the disease. This work is a follow-up study and it aims to investigate the role of mir-29a-3p in the onset of myocardial infarction (MI). More specifically, this study investigates the microRNA expression after the infarction and the way it alters its expression six months after the onset of the episode, its possible association with environmental factors of the disease, as well as other biomarkers such as the interleukin-6 (IL-6) and tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-α).
Materials and methods: This study included patients that were hospitalized for MI. Through a questionnaire anthropometric, clinical, lifestyle, smoking habits, and physical activity data were collected. From each patient, biological samples were isolated, from which the relative quantification of mir-29a-3p was performed by the Real Time – PCR method. Assays of TNF-a and Il-6 were performed using high sensitivity ELISA.
Results: The patient cohort included a high percentage of men, hypertension, hyperlipidaimia, diabetes type 2, overweight-obese and smokers, a low percentage having CAD family history and the patients had reduced physical activity. A percentage of approximately 20% of the patients survived a second event during the follow up period. Mir-29a-3p expression levels were elevated in patients relative to healthy individuals, whereas expression appeared to decrease six months after the episode. The change in expression was correlated with exercise, but this correlation was not maintained after linear regression analysis. In addition, the expression of mir-29a-3p in the first 24 hours after the onset of infarction was found to be negatively correlated with increased levels of tumor necrosis factor-a, TNF-α. The inflammation factors were increased after the episode and decreased six months later.
Conclusions: Μir-29a-3p is probably involved in the development of the infarction. The expression of mir-29a-3p after the episode is influenced by environmental factors. However, the size of the sample should be increased in order to increase the statistical power. Mir-29a-3p correlates negatively with tumor necrosis factor-a (TNF-a) levels at the onset of the infarction.
Keywords:
Cardiovascular diseases, Myocardial infarction, Coronary heart disease, MicroRNAs, Cytokines
