IgA vasculitis (IgAV) is an autoimmune disease, characterized by IgA antibody deposits in vessel walls. It is defined as a systemic inflammation of small vessels found in skin, kidney and gastrointestinal tract . The cause of IgAV is yet to be revealed. Noncoding RNAs, micro RNAs specifically, play a crucial role in post-transcriptional regulation of gene expression. Therefore, a shift in their own expression promotes disease onset. The objective of our study was to analyse differential expression of micro RNAs miR-17-5p, miR-21-3p, miR-21-5p and miR-451a in affected skin of 64 IgAV patients and 19 healthy individuals. Using the quantitative real-time PCR method and relative quantification along with Mann-Whitney U test, we determined statistically significant differential expression of all four micro RNAs, with miR-21-3p being the most prominently up-regulated in IgAV patients. When correlating our figures with IgAV patients clinical data and parameters of pathological analysis, we found statistical significance of miR-17-5p expression in level of granulocyte infiltration and statistical significance of miR-21-3p expression in relation to skin necrosis and gastrointestinal tract involvement. Accordingly, we infer role of miR-17-5p in the earliest stages of IgAV, while miR-21-3p could be associated with chronic condition.
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