miR-34a in serum is involved in mild-to-moderate COPD in women exposed to biomass smoke

BACKGROUND: Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is characterized by persistent respiratory symptoms and airflow limitation that is due to airway and/or alveolar abnormalities. The main causes of COPD are Gene-environment interactions associated with tobacco smoking (COPD-TS) and biomass smoke (COPD-BS). It is well know that microRNAs (miRNAs) participate in the control of post-transcriptional regulation and are involved in COPD-TS; nevertheless, those miRNAS are participating in the COPD-BS are unidentified. Thus, we studied which miRNAs are involved in COPD-BS (GOLD stages I–II). METHODS: In the screening phase, the profile of the miRNAs was analyzed in serum samples (n = 3) by means of a PCR array. Subsequently, the miRNAs were validated with RT-qPCR (n = 25) in the corresponding study groups. Additionally, the serum concentration of Notch1 was measured comparing COPD-BS vs COPD-TS. RESULTS: miR-34a was down-regulated in COPD- BS vs COPD-TS. In the other study groups, three miRNAs were differentially expressed: miR-374a was down-regulated in COPD-BS vs C, miR-191-5p was up-regulated in COPD-BS vs H-BS, and miR-21-5p was down-regulated in COPD-TS compared to the C group. Moreover, the serum concentration of Notch1, one of the targets of miR-34a, was increased in COPD-BS compared to women with COPD-TS. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study in patients with COPD due to biomass that demonstrates miRNA expression differences between patients. The observations support the concept that COPD by biomass has a different phenotype than COPD due to tobacco smoking, which could have important implications for the treatment of these diseases.