Spleen-stomach dampness-heat syndrome (SSDHS) is the common Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) syndrome observed in both chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and chronic gastritis (CG). The specialized TCM prescription for CHB and CG patients with SSDHS is same, but there is limited information about the biological characteristics of this TCM syndrome. This study aimed to identify the serum miRNAs profile for the SSDHS in two different diseases in order to evaluate the miRNA-mediated biological characteristics of this TCM syndrome. We performed comparative microarray analysis of serum miRNA expression profiles in 10 CHB patients with SSDHS (SSDHS-CHB), 10 CG patients with SSDHS (SSDHS-CG), and 10 healthy controls (HC). The selected miRNAs were further validated by qRT-PCR in 13 SSDHS-CHB patients, 13 SSDHS-CG patients, and 13 HC. Moreover, bioinformatics analysis (GO and KEGG pathway enrichment analyses) was applied to identify the involved target genes and pathways for these selected miRNAs. Nine significantly differentially expressed (SDE)-miRNAs in the SSDHS-CHB group and 24 SDE-miRNAs in the SSDHS-CG group were identified, compared with the HC group (fold change >2.0 and p < .05). Among these, upregulated hsa-miR-483-3p and downregulated hsa-miR-223-3p were identified as the common SDE-miRNAs for both SSDHS-CHB and SSDHS-CG groups. Bioinformatics analysis of the common SDE-miRNA's target genes showed their involvement in the regulation of inflammation, immune response, and tumorigenesis. SSDHS-specific hsa-miR-483-3p and hsa-miR-223-3p identified in this study indicated a relevance to the underlying biological basis of SSDHS, and may provide scientific basis for the application of same TCM prescription in CHB and CG.
脾胃湿热证 (SSDHS) 是慢性乙型肝炎 (CHB) 和慢性胃炎 (CG) 的共同常见证候。慢性乙肝和慢性胃炎脾胃湿热证辨证论治治法相近, 但以往对于该中医证候生物学特征的研究却鲜有报道。本研究旨在确定这两种不同疾病中相同证候脾胃湿热证的循环 miRNAs 表达谱, 以揭示该中医证候基于 miRNA 介导调控的生物学特征。研究纳入慢性乙肝脾胃湿热证 (SSDHS-CHB) 10 例、慢性胃炎脾胃湿热证 (SSDHS-CG) 10 例和健康对照组 (HC) 10 例, 进行循环 miRNA 表达谱的微阵列分析。另纳入 SSDHS-CHB 患者、SSDHS-CG 患者和健康对照各 13 例, 通过 qRT-PCR 进一步验证微阵列分析中所筛选出的 miRNAs。再运用 GO 功能注释和 KEGG 通路分析的生物信息学分析技术进一步确定所筛选 miRNAs 的靶基因和富集通路。与健康对照组相比, SSDHS-CHB 中有 9 条显著差异表达 miRNAs (SDE-miRNAs), SSDHS-CG 中有 24 条 SDE-miRNA (差异倍数变化 >2.0, P<0.05)。其中, 上调的 has-miR-483-3p 和下调的 has-miR-223-3p 是慢性乙肝和胃炎脾胃湿热证中共表达的 SDE-miRNA。对这两条共表达的 SDE-miRNAs 的靶基因进行生物信息学分析发现它们主要参与炎症、免疫反应和肿瘤发生生物过程的调控。本研究筛选验证出脾胃湿热证特征性表达 miRNAs: has-miR-483-3p 和 has-miR-223-3p 与脾胃湿热证的生物学基础存在潜在的关联性, 为慢性乙肝和慢性胃炎脾胃湿热证中医药异病同证的治疗提供了科学依据。.
Keywords: chronic gastritis; chronic hepatitis B; microRNAs; same TCM syndrome for different diseases; spleen-stomach dampness-heat syndrome.
© 2021 American Association for Anatomy.