Study on the Expression Spectrum of miRNAs in Peripheral Blood from Patients and the Value of miR-548h-5p in the Diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

To seek novel miRNAs for the diagnosis of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD), this study analyzed the differential expression of miRNA from blood samples of COPD patients and healthy smokers (n = 3) by human microarray analysis. Then, some miRNAs were chosen for qRTPCR validation. A total of 158 miRNAs revealed by microarray analysis have been differentially expressed between the two groups, 33 miRNAs identified to be up-regulated, whereas 125 miRNAs have been down-regulated in COPD. qRT-PCR showed the miR-548h-5p was decreased in the COPD patients compared with healthy smokers (p = 0.04). The sensitivity and specificity of miR-548h-5p to the diagnosis of COPD were 84.6% and 81.8%, respectively. In conclusion, it is recommend that miR-548h-5p as an approach to the diagnosis of COPD.