Down-regulation of miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p in Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia

Background: Chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is the most common adult human leukemia. Studies revealed that microRNAs (miRNAs) can function as oncogenes or tumor suppressors in CLL and that the expression of miRNAs, such as miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p change in several diseases. We aimed to elucidate the changes in miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p expression in CLL and determine their potential as diagnostic biomarkers for this disease.  Materials and methods: We investigated miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p expression by quantitative real-time PCR in peripheral blood mononuclear cells of 30 patients with CLL and 30 healthy individuals. Moreover, in silico molecular enrichment analysis was conducted on predicted and validated targets of miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p from the miRecords and miRTarBase databases. Results: The expression of miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p was significantly different between the two groups (P<0.0001 and P < 0.0001, respectively). Conclusion: Based on these findings, miR-193b-3p and miR-376a-3p could be novel biomarkers for the early diagnosis of CLL and could be used to design new CLL control strategies.