Turkish Neurosurgery
MicroRNA-199a Upregulation Mediates Lumbar Intervertebral Disc Degeneration and is Associated with Clinical Grades of Degeneration
Majid Reza Farrokhi1, Mohammad Hossein Karimi2, Fariborz Ghaffarpasand3, Masih Sherafatian4
1Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Neurosurgery, Shiraz,
2Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Shiraz Transplant Research Center, Shiraz,
3Shiraz University of Medical Sciences, Research Center for Neuromodulation and Pain, Shiraz,
4Tarbiat Modares University , Medical Genetics, Tehran,
DOI: 10.5137/1019-5149.JTN.26650-19.3

Aim:Low back pain (LBP) remains among the most common causes of disability and physician referral worldwide. MicroRNAs are short nucleoid intracellular players on various physiologic and pathophysiologic processes in human body. The aim of this study was to determine the expression profile of miRNA-199a-5p in intervertebral disc degeneration (IDD) and its correlation to the grade of IDD.Material and Methods:This case-controlled study was conducted during a 6-month period from 2017 to 2018 in two university hospitals in Shiraz, Iran. We included 15 patients with grade 3 and 4 of Pfirrmann and 5 patients with traumatic lumbosacral fractures with grade I. Total discectomy was performed in all the individuals and the samples were sent to the laboratory. The NP cells were isolated and the RNA was extracted. cDNA was synthesized by reverse transcriptase and the expression was measured using real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCT).Results:We overall included 20 patients in two study groups. Both study groups were comparable regarding the baseline and clinical characteristics except for age (p=0.026). The fold change (p=0.007) and relative expression (p=0.012) of the miRNA-199a-5p was found to be significantly higher in patients compared to controls. The fold change (p=0.001) and relative expression (p<0.001) were also associated with the Pfirrmann grading. We found that the area under curve (AUC) was 0.880 (95%CI: 0.721-0.938) indicative of moderate accuracy.Conclusion:Expression of the miRNA-199a-5p is increased in the IDD. The expression of the miRNA-199a-5p was also associated with the grade of the degeneration based on the Pfirrmann grading.

Corresponding author : Fariborz Ghaffarpasand