Dysregulation of miR-192-5p in acute pancreatitis patients with nonalcoholic fatty liver and its functional role in acute pancreatitis progression

Background: Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) is a frequent metabolic disease and has been demonstrated to contribute to the severity of acute pancreatitis (AP). The present study aimed to investigate the aberrant expression of microRNA-192-5p (miR-192-5p) in AP patients with NAFLD, and further analyze the clinical significance and biological function of miR-192-5p in AP progression. Methods: Expression of miR-192-5p was estimated using quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR). Diagnostic value of miR-192-5p was evaluated by the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC). The effects of miR-192-5p on cell proliferation, apoptosis and inflammatory response of pancreatic acinar cells were further assessed by CCK-8 assay, flow cytometry and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Results: Circulating miR-192-5p was decreased in AP patients with NAFLD compared with those patients without NAFLD and healthy controls (P<0.05). The down-regulated expression of miR-192-5p had a relative high diagnostic accuracy to distinguish the AP patients with NAFLD from the cases without NAFLD. Furthermore, the overexpression of miR-192-5p in pancreatic acinar cells led to the decreased cell proliferation, increased cell apoptosis and suppressed inflammatory reaction (all P<0.05). Conclusion: Collectively, all data indicated that serum expression of miR-192-5p in AP patients with NAFLD is significantly decreased and serves as a candidate diagnostic biomarker. The up-regulation of miR-192-5p in pancreatic acinar cell leads to increased cell apoptosis and decreased inflammatory response, suggesting the potential of miR-192-5p as a therapeutic target of AP.