Expression levels and polymorphisms of the microRNA maturing components; diagnostic values of Drosha, DGCR8 and Dicer in patients with vitiligo.

Abstract

Background and objective: Even though the pathogenesis of vitiligo is still unclear, recent studies have suggested that miRNAs can contribute to the occurrence and progression of the disease. The aim of the present study was to investigate the associations between SNPs of miRNA processing genes and their expression levels with vitiligo susceptibility.

Methods: 55 patients and 56 controls were investigated for Dicer, Drosha, and DGCR8 gene expressions and genotyped for Drosha rs493760, DGCR8 rs1640299, and Dicer rs1057035 by real-time PCR. The correlation of the expression levels of these three genes was analyzed. The ROC curve was used to analyze their diagnostic efficacy for vitiligo.

Results: The current findings showed that the Dicer CT genotype was more frequent in vitiligo (p=0.046) compared to controls, while Drosha and DGCR8 polymorphisms did not show significant associations. The relative expression levels of the three genes in vitiligo patients were significantly lower than those in the control group (p<0.05). The areas under the curves for Drosha, DGCR8, and Dicer were 0.969, 0.66, 0.67.

Conclusions: For the first time, we demonstrate that the Dicer rs1057035 polymorphism is associated with vitiligo susceptibility, and the downregulation of Drosha, DGCR8, and Dicer suggests their potential roles as biomarkers in the pathogenesis of vitiligo.