Analysis of serum microRNA expression in male workers with occupational noise-induced hearing loss

Abstract

Occupational noise-induced hearing loss (ONIHL) is a prevalent occupational disorder that impairs auditory function in workers exposed to prolonged noise. However, serum microRNA expression in ONIHL subjects has not yet been studied. We aimed to compare the serum microRNA expression profiles in male workers of ONIHL subjects and controls. MicroRNA microarray analysis revealed that four serum microRNAs were differentially expressed between controls (n=3) and ONIHL subjects (n=3). Among these microRNAs, three were upregulated (hsa-miR-3162-5p, hsa-miR-4484, hsa-miR-1229-5p) and one was downregulated (hsa-miR-4652-3p) in the ONIHL group (fold change >1.5 and Pbon value <0.05). Real time quantitative PCR was conducted for validation of the microRNA expression. Significantly increased serum levels of miR-1229-5p were found in ONIHL subjects compared to controls (n=10 for each group; P<0.05). A total of 659 (27.0%) genes were predicted as the target genes of miR-1229-5p. These genes were involved in various pathways, such as mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling pathway. Overexpression of miR-1229-5p dramatically inhibited the luciferase activity of 3′ UTR segment of MAPK1 (P<0.01). Compared to the negative control, HEK293T cells expressing miR-1229-5p mimics showed a significant decline in mRNA levels of MAPK1 (P<0.05). This preliminary study indicated that serum miR-1229-5p was significantly elevated in ONIHL subjects. Increased miR-1229-5p may participate in the pathogenesis of ONIHL through repressing MAPK1 signaling.

Mechanosensitive MiRs regulated by anabolic and catabolic loading of human cartilage

“…MiR-1275 was involved in IGF-signaling by directly targeting IGFbinding proteins in hepatocellular and squamous cell carcinoma 45,46 while miR-1229-5p contributed to the pathogenesis of occupational noise-induced hearing loss by repressing MAPK1 signaling. 47 MiR-4459 altered stemness maintenance in human embryonic stem cells 48 and miR-199b-5p, highly conserved among species, was so far mostly studied in cancer cells. Among other targets, the Notch-response gene HES1 49 and HIF1a 50 were proposed as target genes for miR-199b-5p.…”

Single-Nucleotide Polymorphisms in XPO5 are Associated with Noise-Induced Hearing Loss in a Chinese Population

“…Currently, studies on miRNAs and hearing loss have demonstrated that these miRNAs can be used as potential biomarkers to indicate NIHL [15,23]. In a study involving miRNA-15a-1 and miRNA-18a in the development of the ear structure of zebrafish, it was found that the number of hair cells in the deformed body decreased, and the inner ear structure was abnormal [24].…”

“…Compared with the control group, the expression of miRNA-24, miRNA-185-5p, and miRNA-451a increased significantly in the NIHL group [14]. Li et al [15] reported that the serum miRNA-1229-5p level of male workers suffering from NIHL was significantly higher than the control group.…”

MiR‐4485‐3p expression reduced in spermatozoa of men with idiopathic asthenozoospermia

“…Maybe these miRNAs do not be expressed in the mitochondria of spermatozoa, or their expression is very low. The miR‐4484 has been showed a putative marker in lymphoma (Tamaddon, Geramizadeh, Karimi, Mowla, & Abroun, ), glioblastoma (Nawaz et al, ), cervical squamous cell carcinoma (Chen et al, ) and breast cancer (Tamaddon et al, ) and in occupational noise‐induced hearing loss (Li et al, ). Previous studies showed the role of miR‐4463 overexpression in inhibiting aberrant vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) migration(Wang et al, ), enhancing H 2 O 2 induced oxidative stress and apoptosis (Wang, He, Deng, He, & Zhou, ), novel biomarker in arteriosclerosis obliterans (He et al, ) and polycystic ovary syndrome (Ding et al, ).…”