In this clinical study levels of 384 microRNAs were measured in serum from 40 postmenopausal women with a history of one or more fragility fractures and 40 healthy control subjects.
Novel data normalization protocols were established and machine learning algorithms were used to identify combinations of microRNAs (“signatures”), which were able to accurately classify osteoporotic patients from controls. The best signatures contained 4 microRNAs and achieved classification rates with area-under-the-curve (AUC) vales > 0.95. Cross-validation and permutation controls were applied to control for overfitting of classification models.
Four microRNAs were selected for functional characterization: miR-550a-5p, miR-188-3p, and miR-382-3p. All three miRNAs were shown to potentially impact osteogenic differentiation. These data provide proof that serum microRNAs could be valuable biomarkers to manage osteoporosis in type-2 diabetics and postmenopausal women. Potential applications of microRNA biomarkers include risk stratification, treatment selection and treatment monitoring. New data from validation studies will be presented during ASBMR 2016 in Atlanta.
More information: www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27345526
TAmiRNA
TAmiRNA GmbH is a biopharmaceutical R&D company founded to drive the discovery and development of microRNAs (miRNAs) as tools for diagnosis and treatment of age-associated disorders such as Osteoporosis, Cardiovascular Disease and Neurodegenerative Disease. TAmiRNA targets to improve patient stability and quality of life with increasing age, by providing solutions for early risk assessment of disease and combined therapeutic treatment solutions.