Circulating miR-126 and miR-130a levels correlate with lower disease risk, disease severity, and reduced inflammatory cytokine levels in acute ischemic stroke patients

To investigate the correlations of five angiogenesis-related miRNA (miR-126, miR-130a, miR-222, miR-218, and miR-185) expression levels with risk, severity, and inflammatory cytokines levels in acute ischemic stroke (AIS) patients. A total of 148 AIS patients and 148 age- and gender-matched controls were consecutively enrolled. Blood samples were collected from AIS patients and controls, and plasma was separated for miRNAs and cytokine level detection. Plasma levels of miRNAs were evaluated by real-time qPCR method, and inflammatory cytokine levels were detected using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Plasma miR-126 and miR-130a expression levels in AIS patients were lower than those of controls, while the levels of miR-222, miR-218, and miR-185 were elevated in AIS patients compared with controls. After pooling the five miRNA expression levels together, the area under the curve (AUC) for predicting AIS risk was 0.840 (95% CI 0.795–0.885) with a sensitivity of 83.8% and a specificity of 69.6% at the best cut-off point. Plasma miR-126 (r = − 0.402, P < 0.001) and miR-130a (r = − 0.161, P = 0.050) levels were negatively correlated with NIHSS scores, while plasma miR-218 level was positively correlated with NIHSS scores (r = 0.471, P < 0.001). Most importantly, plasma miR-126 expression was negatively correlated with TNF-α (r = − 0.168, P = 0.041), IL-1β (r = − 0.246, P = 0.003), and IL-6 (r = − 0.147, P = 0.035) levels, while miR-130a expression was negatively correlated with TNF-α (r = − 0.287, P < 0.001), IL-1β (r = − 0.168, P = 0.041), and IL-6 (r = − 0.239, P = 0.003) expression levels and positively associated with IL-10 level (r = 0.261, P = 0.001). Circulating miR-126 and miR-130a levels correlate with lower disease risk, decreased disease severity, and reduced inflammatory cytokine levels in AIS patients.