Expression of miR-495 and miR-326 in peripheral blood of rheumatoid arthritis patients and its significance

The aim of the present study was to investigate the expression of microRNA (miR)-495 and miR-326 in the peripheral blood of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). A total of 107 RA patients, admitted to the Yidu Central Hospital of Weifang (Weifang, China) from February 2016 to February 2019, and 112 healthy subjects, who underwent physical examination during the same period, were selected as the research subjects for prospective analysis. The RA patients served as the study group and the healthy subjects as the control group. The expression levels of miR-495 and miR-326 in the peripheral blood of the two groups of subjects were compared. The association between miR-495 and miR-326 with RA clinical pathology and the diagnostic value of miR-495 and miR-326 for RA were analyzed. In the study group, miR-495 expression was significantly higher than that in the control group, and miR-326 expression was significantly lower than that in the control group (P<0.001). miR-495 and miR-326 combined diagnosis showed good predictive value for the occurrence of RA (P<0.001) and was closely related to RA clinical pathology (P<0.001). After treatment, miR-495 expression was significantly decreased in the study group, whereas miR-326 expression was significantly increased (P<0.001). Pearson's correlation coefficient analysis showed that rheumatoid factor (RF) was positively correlated with miR-495 expression and negatively correlated with miR-326 expression (P<0.001). In conclusion, miR-495 was highly expressed in patients with RA, whereas miR-326 was poorly expressed in RA patients, and the combined detection of miR-495 and miR-326 has good diagnostic value for RA.