Investigation of Dysregulation of Several MicroRNAs in Peripheral Blood of Schizophrenia Patients

OBJECTIVE The prevalence of schizophrenia is 1%, and it is a debilitating disorder that often results in a shortened lifespan. Peripheral blood samples are good candidates to investigate because they can be easily drawn, and they are widely studied in psychiatric disorders. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNA transcripts. They regulate the expression of genes by binding to the 3'-untranslated region (UTR) of mRNAs and pointing them to degrade. In this study, we aimed to investigate the expression of miR-9-5p, miR-29a-3p, miR-106-5p, miR-106b-5p, miR-107, miR-125a-3p, and miR-125b-3p in schizophrenia patients and healthy controls. METHODS We collected blood samples from 16 patients with schizophrenia and 16 healthy controls. MicroRNAs were measured with reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. RESULTS Schizophrenia patients showed statistically significant upregulation of five microRNAs: miR9-5p (p=0.002), miR29a-3p (p＜0.001), miR106b-5p (p=0.002), miR125a-3p (p＜0.001), and miR125b-3p (p=0.018). CONCLUSION Our results increased the value of the miR106 and miR29 families as potentially and consistently dysregulated in psychiatric disorders. Our results should be considered preliminary, and they need confirmation in future studies with larger sample sizes.