Modulated expression of human peripheral blood microRNAs from infancy to adulthood and its role in aging

Abstract

Accumulating evidence suggests a role for microRNAs (miRNAs) in regulating various processes of mammalian postnatal development and aging. To investigate the changes in blood-based miRNA expression from preterm infants to adulthood, we compared 365 miRNA expression profiles in a screening set of preterm infants and adults. Approximately one-third of the miRNAs were constantly expressed from postnatal development to adulthood, another one-third were differentially expressed between preterm infants and adults, and the remaining one-third were not detectable in these two groups. Based on their expression in infants and adults, the miRNAs were categorized into five classes, and six of the seven miRNAs chosen from each class except one with age-constant expression were confirmed in a validation set containing infants, children, and adults. Comparing the chromosomal locations of the different miRNA classes revealed two hot spots: the miRNA cluster on 14q32.31 exhibited age-constant expression, and the one on 9q22.21 exhibited up-regulation in adults. Furthermore, six miRNAs detectable in adults were down-regulated in older adults, and four chosen for individual quantification were verified in the validation set. Analysis of the network functions revealed that differentially regulated miRNAs between infants and adults and miRNAs that decreased during aging shared two network functions: inflammatory disease and inflammatory response. Four expression patterns existed in the 11 miRNAs from infancy to adulthood, with a significant transition in ages 9–20 years. Our results provide an overview on the regulation pattern of blood miRNAs throughout life and the possible biological functions performed by different classes of miRNAs.

Reverse Expression of Aging-Associated Molecules through Transfection of miRNAs to Aged Mice

“…Profiling of miRNAs has been performed in whole blood 10 and PBMCs 28 of humans; in these studies, the majority of miRNAs were downregulated with age. In our study, 25 of 27 miRNAs selected as DERs from the whole blood using a 4-fold change criterion were decreased, similar to previous results observed in humans (Table 1).…”

“…In addition, microRNAs (miRNAs) have been investigated to identify how they modulate aging-associated signaling pathways by binding to specific promoter regions of target mRNAs 8, 9. To this end, differentially expressed miRNAs (DERs), originating from a specific fraction of blood, such as cells, serum, or microvesicles (e.g., exosomes), have been identified in adult blood compared to that of infancy,10, 11, 12 which could provide key molecules to elucidate the aging mechanism.…”

The Host Microbiome Regulates and Maintains Human Health: A Primer and Perspective for Non-Microbiologists

“…There is significant variation in the expression of miRNA during aging. Genome-wide assessment of miRNA expression revealed that the majority of miRNAs decreased with age (131,132). Interestingly, host-derived miRNAs may also influence the composition of the gut microbiome (133).…”

Circulating miR-200–family micro-RNAs have altered plasma levels in patients with endometriosis and vary with blood collection time

“…This stability occurs as miRNAs are released from cells to extracellular space in membrane vesicles (2) or bound to protein complexes (3,4). Alterations in miRNA levels in blood may reflect the changes during normal physiologic processes (5,6) and have been related to several pathologic conditions, including gynecologic diseases (7,8).…”