Urinary microRNAs miR-15b and miR-30a as novel noninvasive biomarkers for gentamicin-induced acute kidney injury

• DOI: 10.1016/j.toxlet.2020.12.006
• Publication Date: 2020-12-05T15:56:01Z
• Authors: B. Sun; Z. Qu; G.L. Cheng; Y.W. Yang; Y.F. Miao; X.G. Chen; X.B. Zhou; B. Li
• Keywords: 0301 basic medicine; Time Factors; Sequence Analysis, RNA; High-Throughput Nucleotide Sequencing; Acute Kidney Injury; Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; 3. Good health; Disease Models, Animal; MicroRNAs; 03 medical and health sciences; Dogs; Gene Expression Regulation; Animals; Gentamicins; Biomarkers

MicroRNAs serve as potential biomarkers in various pathological models, and are stable and detectable in biofluids. We investigated the urinary microRNA expression profile in a gentamicin-induced acute kidney injury canine model using RNA sequencing. A total of 234 differentially expressed microRNAs were screened after 12 consecutive days of gentamicin administration (P < 0.05). Six candidate microRNAs (miR-15b, -15b-3p, -16, -30a, -30a-3p, and -30c-2-3p) were selected according to a set criterion, and validated by real-time quantitative PCR. The diagnostic values of these six candidate microRNAs were better than the traditional serum biomarkers (all P < 0.05). Further, using receiver operating characteristic curve analysis, we found that miR-15b and -15b-3p were superior to urinary kidney injury molecule-1 (both P < 0.05). Moreover, miR-15b and -30a levels in the urine samples significantly correlated with their respective levels in the kidney tissue samples (r=0.512 and 0.505, respectively, both P < 0.05). Our data concluded that miR-15b and -30a may be promising biomarkers for renal toxicity.