increased mir-223-3p in leukocytes positively correlated with il-17a in plasma of asthmatic patients

Asthma is a common airway inflammation with an intricate underlying mechanism. the role played by circulating mirnas in asthma remains unclear. in the present study, we aimed to investigate the role of mir-223-3p in leukocytes of asthma and identify the relationship between mir-223-3p and inflammatory cytokines in asthma. using real-time polymerase chain reaction (rt-pcr), we detected mir-223-3p expression in peripheral blood leukocytes from 23 asthmatic patients and 20 healthy controls. the levels of ifn-γ (th1 cytokine), il-4 (th2 cytokine), il-17a (th17 cytokine) in plasma were examined using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (elisa). analysis of variance (anova) and spearman’s test was used for statistical analysis. the expression of mir-223-3p in peripheral blood leukocytes was upregulated in the asthmatic patients compared with that in the healthy controls. increased mir-223-3p expression was associated with forced expiratory volume in 1-second percent predicted (fev1% predicted). a positive correlation was noted between mir-223-3p and il-17a. the findings of this study showed that mir-223-3p plays a vital role in the pathogenesis of asthma and can serve as a novel biomarker for asthma.