Urinary Exosomal MicroRNA Profiling in Incipient Type 2 Diabetic Kidney Disease

Background. albuminuria is an early sign but not a strong predictor of diabetic kidney disease (dkd). owing to their high stability,urinary exosomal mirnas can be useful predictors of the progression of early-stage dkd to renal failure; fluid biopsies are ideal for detecting abnormalities in these mirnas. the aim of this study was to identify novel differentially expressed mirnas as urine biomarkers for type 2 dkd by comparing between patients of type 2 diabetes (t2d) with and without macroalbuminuria. methods. ten patients with t2d,including five who had no renal disease and five with macroalbuminuria (dkd g1-2a3),were selected for this study. exosome- (uexo-) derived mirna profiles were used to identify candidate biomarkers,a subset of which was verified using quantitative reverse transcription pcr. results. a total of 496 uexo-derived mirna species were found to be differentially expressed (>2-fold) in patients with dkd,compared to those with t2d. a validation analysis revealed that three mirnas (mir-362-3p,mir-877-3p,and mir-150-5p) were upregulated and one (mir-15a-5p) was downregulated. these mirnas might regulate dkd through p53,mtor,and ampk pathways. conclusions. in conclusion,uexo-derived mirnas were altered in type 2 dkd. mir-362-3p,mir-877-3p,mir-150-5p,and mir-15a-5p might be novel biomarkers for incipient dkd. © 2017 yijun xie et al.