AUTHOR=Giuliani Angelica , Gaetani Simona , Sorgentoni Giulia , Agarbati Silvia , Laggetta Maristella , Matacchione Giulia , Gobbi Mirko , Rossi Tommaso , Galeazzi Roberta , Piccinini Gina , Pelliccioni Giuseppe , Bonfigli Anna Rita , Procopio Antonio Domenico , Albertini Maria Cristina , Sabbatinelli Jacopo , Olivieri Fabiola , Fazioli Francesca TITLE=Circulating Inflamma-miRs as Potential Biomarkers of Cognitive Impairment in Patients Affected by Alzheimer’s Disease JOURNAL=Frontiers in Aging Neuroscience VOLUME=13 YEAR=2021 URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/aging-neuroscience/articles/10.3389/fnagi.2021.647015 DOI=10.3389/fnagi.2021.647015 ISSN=1663-4365 ABSTRACT=

Alzheimer’s disease (AD), the most prevalent neurodegenerative disease in the growing population of elderly people, is still lacking minimally-invasive circulating biomarkers that could facilitate the diagnosis and the monitoring of disease progression. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are emerging as tissue-specific and/or circulating biomarkers of several age-related diseases, but evidence on AD is still not conclusive. Since a systemic pro-inflammatory status was associated with an increased risk of AD development and progression, we focused our investigation on a subset of miRNAs modulating the inflammatory process, namely inflamma-miRNAs. The expression of inflamma-miR-17-5p, -21-5p, -126-3p, and -146a-5p was analyzed in plasma samples from 116 patients with AD compared with 41 age-matched healthy control (HC) subjects. MiR-17-5p, miR-21-5p, and miR-126-3p plasma levels were significantly increased in AD patients compared to HC. Importantly, a strong inverse relationship was observed between miR-21-5p and miR-126-3p, and the cognitive impairment, assessed by Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE). Notably, miR-126-3p was able to discriminate between mild and severe cognitive impairment. Overall, our results reinforce the hypothesis that circulating inflamma-miRNAs could be assessed as minimally invasive tools associated with the development and progression of cognitive impairment in AD.