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SYSTEMATIC REVIEW article

Front. Endocrinol.

Sec. Renal Endocrinology

Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fendo.2025.1432652

A systematic review and meta-analysis of microRNAs in the diagnosis of early diabetic kidney disease

Provisionally accepted
Lujie Jiang Lujie Jiang 1Li Li Li Li 2Liping Zheng Liping Zheng 3,4Xinhuan Zhang Xinhuan Zhang 1Yan Wang Yan Wang 1*Mingfeng Cao Mingfeng Cao 1*Yanlian Hou Yanlian Hou 1
  • 1 Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China
  • 2 The First People's Hospital of Taian, Tai'an, Shandong Province, China
  • 3 Department of Radiation Oncology, Ningyang No.1 People's Hospital, Taian, China
  • 4 Ningyang No.1 People's Hospital, Tai’an, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    The aim of this study was to comprehensively assess the overall diagnostic value of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs or miRs) as biomarkers for the early diagnosis of diabetic kidney disease (DKD) through Meta-analysis, and to identify potential molecular biomarkers with higher diagnostic value for early DKD.The CNKI, Wanfang date, VIP, Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, and Cochrane Library until January 2024 were searched. Relevant studies associated with the value of miRNAs in the diagnosis of early DKD were selected. Case numbers, sensitivity, and specificity were extracted from the included literature for both the observation and control groups.Nine studies including 655 cases of early DKD patients and 664 cases as a control group were conducted. The comprehensive sensitivity was 0.76, comprehensive specificity was 0.74, combined positive likelihood ratio was 2.9 and the combined negative likelihood ratio was 0.33, diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) was 9. The summary receiver operating characteristic (SROC) curve was drawn and the area under the curve (AUC) was 0.79. Blood and urine source data were analyzed and showed that urine source miRNA had a higher sensitivity (0.82vs 0.68) and a higher DOR (10.5vs 8.2) than blood source miRNA.MiRNAs may serve as promising noninvasive biomarkers for the early diagnosis of DKD. The diagnostic value of miRNAs in urine samples may be higher than that in blood samples. The combined detection of some miRNAs or other clinical indicators can enhance the accuracy of early DKD diagnosis.

    Keywords: MicroRAN, Early diabetic kidney disease, diagnostic tests, Systematic review, Meta-analysis

    Received: 14 May 2024; Accepted: 28 Mar 2025.

    Copyright: © 2025 Jiang, Li, Zheng, Zhang, Wang, Cao and Hou. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence:
    Yan Wang, Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China
    Mingfeng Cao, Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Taian, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

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