Background Atherosclerosis is the main cause of carotid artery stenosis (CAS) which mostly occurs in the elderly. In this paper, the expression level of miR-375-3p in asymptomatic CAS patients and its diagnostic value for asymptomatic CAS were investigated, and the effects of miR-375-3p on the cell proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) was further explored. Methods 98 healthy subjects and 101 asymptomatic CAS patients were participated in this study. qRT-PCR was used to measure the expression level of serum miR-375-3p, and the ROC curve was established to evaluate the predictive value of miR-375-3p for asymptomatic CAS. After transfection with miR-375-3p mimic or inhibitor in vitro, cell proliferation and migration were detected by CCK-8 assay, colony formation assay, and Transwell assay, respectively. The levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6 were detected by ELISA. Western blot was used to detect the protein expression of XIAP. Finally, luciferase reporter gene assay was applied to assess the interaction of miR-375-3p with target genes. Results The expression level of serum miR-375-3p in asymptomatic CAS patients was significantly higher than that in healthy controls, and the AUC value of ROC curve was 0.888. The sensitivity and specificity were 80.2 and 86.7%, respectively, indicating that miR-375-3p had high diagnostic value for asymptomatic CAS. In vitro cell experiments showed that up-regulation of miR-375-3p significantly promoted the proliferation and migration of VSMCs, and also promoted the generation of inflammatory factors and phenotypic transformation of VSMCs. Luciferase reporter gene assay confirmed that XIAP was a target gene of miR-375-3p and was negatively regulated by miR-375-3p. Conclusions In this study, miR-375-3p may have a clinical diagnostic value for asymptomatic CAS patients which need further validation. Increased miR-375-3p levels in CAS may be associated with increased proliferation and migration of VSMCs via downregulation of the apoptosis inducing gene XIAP.

Objectives Abnormal proliferation and migration of vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) are involved in carotid artery stenosis. The purpose of this study was to investigate the diagnostic value of serum miR-28-5p in asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis and its regulation on the proliferation and migration of VSMCs. Methods Serum miR-28-5p levels in 65 healthy controls and 68 asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis patients were detected by qRT–PCR. The receiver-operating characteristic curve was applied to elucidate the diagnostic value of serum miR-28-5p for carotid artery stenosis patients. The specificity of miRNA targets was detected by luciferase reporter assay. CCK-8 and Transwell assay were applied to detect proliferation and migration of cells. Pearson correlation test was used to investigate the correlation between Forkhead box subclass O 1 (FOXO1) and serum miR-28-5p. Results Serum miR-28-5p was significantly reduced in asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis patients. Moreover, miR-28-5p could distinguish asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis patients from healthy controls, with sensitivity and specificity of 86.8% and 81.5%, respectively, indicating its high diagnostic value. The overexpression of miR-28-5p inhibited the proliferation and migration of VSMCs, while inhibition of miR-28-5p resulted in the opposite effect. What is more, FOXO1, a direct target of miR-28-5p, was significantly increased in asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis patients. Inhibition of miR-28-5p in VSMCs reversed the reduction of FOXO1 levels in patients. Conclusions miR-28-5p is a valuable diagnostic biomarker for asymptomatic carotid artery stenosis and can affect the proliferation and migration of VSMCs by regulating FOXO1.

The anterior petroclinoid fold (APF) is a ligamentous structure consisting of collagen fiber and extends from the petrous apex to the anterior clinoid process. During the surgical clipping of some posterolaterally projecting posterior communicating artery aneurysms, it may pose a technical challenge due to obscuration of the aneurismal neck by the APF. Herein, the authors describe a simple and effective technique utilizing fenestration of the APF to facilitate visualization and surgical clipping of these aneurysms. To the best knowledge of us, this technique of the APF fenestration has been reported in only a few patients.