Background: Ischemic heart diseases are major sources of morbidity and mortality worldwide. Several biomarkers have been suggested to aid in the diagnosis of myocardial infarction and unstable angina. Multiple micro-RNAs, a class of regulatory ribonucleic acids, have been studied in ischemic heart disease patients for a potential role in diagnosis.
Objective: To study the role of micro RNA-21(miRNA21 or miR21) in Egyptian patients with ischemic heart diseases(IHD), myocardial infarction (MI) and unstable angina (UA) to evaluate its diagnostic value in IHDs.
Patients and Methods: This prospective case-control study included 50 subjects, divided into two groups: Patient group including 30 subjects, and control group including 20 subjects. Subjects were subjected to full history taking and clinical assessment, routine lab investigations, cardiac markers assay, and determination of serum expression of Micro RNA-21 using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This study was conducted on patients attending at cardiology department, Al-Hussein University Hospital. Study started in March 2018, and ended in October 2018.
Results: Micro-RNA expression profile showed that miR-21 was up-regulated in MI and UA patients in general, with a statistically extremely highly significant difference (p=<0.001). Its diagnostic performance was marvelous, but couldn't distinguish between UA and MI.
Conclusions: In conclusion, we found that Micro RNA-21 showed a statistically extremely high significant up regulation in MI and UA patients, with strong diagnostic performance, but couldn't distinguish between UA and MI. Micro RNA-21 might be biomarker for ischemic heart disease.