Increased expression of plasma hsa‐miR‐181a in male patients with heroin addiction use disorder

BACKGROUND: Drug addiction is an uncontrolled, chronic, and recurrent encephalopathy that presently lacks specific and characteristic biomarkers for diagnosis and treatment. As regulators of gene expression, microRNAs (miRNAs) are increasingly used for diagnostic and prognostic purposes in various disease states. Previous studies indicated that miRNAs play important roles in the development and progression of drug addictions, including addiction to methamphetamine, cocaine, alcohol, and heroin. METHODS: We identified significant miRNAs using the microarray method and then validated the hsa‐miR‐181a expression levels in 53 heroin addiction patients and 49 normal controls using quantitative real‐time reverse transcription‐polymerase chain reaction (qRT‐PCR). Finally, the potential associations between transcriptional levels in heroin addiction patients and their clinicopathological features were analyzed. RESULTS: A total of 2006 miRNAs were differentially expressed between heroin addiction patients and normal controls. The top 10 up‐regulated miRNAs in patients were hsa‐miR‐21a, hsa‐miR‐181a, hsa‐miR‐4459, hsa‐miR‐4430, hsa‐miR‐4306, hsa‐miR‐22‐3P, hsa‐miR‐486‐5P, hsa‐miR‐371b‐5P, hsa‐miR‐92a‐3P, and hsa‐miR‐5001‐5P. The top 10 down‐regulated miRNAs in patients were hsa‐miR‐3195, hsa‐miR‐4767, hsa‐miR‐3135b, hsa‐miR‐6087, hsa‐miR‐1181, hsa‐miR‐4785, hsa‐miR‐718, hsa‐miR‐3141, hsa‐miR‐652‐5P, and hsa‐miR‐6126. The expression level of hsa‐miR‐181a in heroin addiction patients was significantly increased compared with that in normal controls (P < .001). The area under the receiver operating characteristic curve of hsa‐miR‐181a was 0.783, the sensitivity was 0.867, and the specificity was 0.551. CONCLUSIONS: The increased expression of hsa‐miR‐181a in the plasma of heroin patients may be a consequence of the pathological process of heroin abuse. This study highlights the potential of hsa‐miR‐181a as a novel biomarker for the diagnosis of heroin addiction.