Expression of miR-127 and miR-29 in Egyptian patients with Behçet disease and its clinical significance and relationship with disease activity.

Background: Behçet's disease (BD) is characterized by a variety of clinical involvements and unpredictable courses of remission and exacerbation. BD cannot be diagnosed based on any particular laboratory, histopathologic, or genetic data. After excluding other possible causes, the diagnosis of BD is mostly made based on clinical manifestations. This research aims to assess the expression of miR-127 and miR-29 in Behçet patients and to correlate this expression with different disease manifestations and disease activity.

Methods: Seventy adult patients with Behçet disease and 30 matched controls were enlisted. Behçet's Disease Current Activity Form (BDCAF) was used to determine the patients' activity scores. Gene expressions of miR-127 and miR-29 were assessed using real-time PCR.

Results: miR-29 was statistically significantly higher in cases when compared to controls with p < 0.001. Patients with oral ulcers, genital ulcers, and neurological manifestations had a significantly higher levels of miR-29b (p = 0.005, 0.008, 0.003, respectively). Expression level of miR-29b was higher in patients with active disease compared with those who were in inactive state (p = 0.003). Patients with high and moderate severity score had a statistically significant higher expression level of miR-29 when compared to patients with mild severity score. There was a statistically significant positive correlation between miR-29 and several study parameters including BDCAF (r = 0.440, p < 0.001) and severity score (r = 0.243, p = 0.043). miR-127 was statistically significantly lower in cases when compared to controls with p < 0.001. There were statistically significant negative correlations between miR-127 and each of ESR (r = - 0.361, p = 0.002) and BDCAF (r = - 0.350, p = 0.003).

Conclusions: miR-29 expression level was statistically significantly higher while miR-127 was statistically significantly lower in patients with Behçet disease compared with control individuals. Furthermore, miR-29 was significantly positively correlated whereas miR-127 was significantly negatively correlated with BDCAF denoting their association with disease activity. Key Points • Behçet's disease (BD) is a systemic inflammatory disease with uncertain etiology. There is currently no diagnostic test for Behçet disease. Several miRNAs have been identified as powerful diagnostic biomarkers in many diseases. • Measuring the expression levels of miR-29 and miR-127 in serum of sample of patients with Behçet disease was performed in the current study. • miR-29 expression level was statistically significantly higher while miR-127 was statistically significantly lower in patients with Behçet disease compared with control individuals. Furthermore, miR-29 was significantly positively correlated whereas miR-127 was significantly negatively correlated with BDCAF denoting their association with disease activity.