Faecal miRNA profiles associated with age, sex, BMI, and lifestyle habits in healthy individuals

Abstract

For their stability and detectability faecal microRNAs represent promising molecules with potential clinical interest as non-invasive diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers. However, there is no evidence on how stool miRNA profiles change according to an individual’s age, sex, and body mass index (BMI) or how lifestyle habits influence the expression levels of these molecules. We explored the relationship between the stool miRNA levels and common traits (sex, age, BMI, and menopausal status) or lifestyle habits (physical activity, smoking status, coffee, and alcohol consumption) as derived by a self-reported questionnaire, using small RNA-sequencing data of samples from 335 healthy subjects. We detected 151 differentially expressed miRNAs associated with one variable and 52 associated with at least two. Differences in miR-638 levels were associated with age, sex, BMI, and smoking status. The highest number of differentially expressed miRNAs was associated with BMI (n = 92) and smoking status (n = 84), with several miRNAs shared between them. Functional enrichment analyses revealed the involvement of the miRNA target genes in pathways coherent with the analysed variables. Our findings suggest that miRNA profiles in stool may reflect common traits and lifestyle habits and should be considered in relation to disease and association studies based on faecal miRNA expression.

Gluten-free diet affects fecal small non-coding RNA profiles and microbiome composition in celiac disease supporting a host-gut microbiota crosstalk

“…Accumulating evidence associated specific nutrient intake with miRNA expression. 13 , 14 In particular, our group previously reported that fecal miRNA profiles change with anthropometric traits and lifestyle habits 15 as well as accurately distinguish subjects with different dietary habits. 16 In this respect, miRNAs could also reflect the impact of the GFD on CD subjects.…”

Circulating Serum MiRNA-8074 as a Novel Prognostic Biomarker for Multiple Myeloma

“…The authors found that miRNA-8074 levels decreased with age (−0.26, adj. p < 0.001) [ 63 ]. Kolhe et al noted that synovial fluid exosomal miRNA-8074 is down-regulated in females with osteoarthritis [ 64 ].…”

The 8q24 region hosts miRNAs altered in biospecimens of colorectal and bladder cancer patients

“…Libraries were pooled together (in 24‐plex) and further purified with a gel size selection. A final Bioanalyzer® 2100 run with the High Sensitivity DNA Kit (Agilent Technologies) allowed to assess DNA libraries quality regarding size, purity, and concentration 24 . The obtained libraries were subjected to the Illumina® sequencing pipeline, passing through clonal cluster generation on a single‐read flow cell (Illumina) by bridge amplification on the cBot (TruSeq SR Cluster Kit v3‐cBOT‐HS, Illumina) and 50 cycles sequencing‐by‐synthesis on the HiSeq™ 2000 Sequencing System (Illumina) (in collaboration with EMBL, Gene core facility).…”