International journal of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease
Association of Lung Tissue MicroRNA Expression with Quantitative Emphysema in COPD: An Exploratory Transcriptomic Analysis
By Kim T, Choi H, Oak CH and 2 others.
Abstract
Background
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may participate in biological pathways relevant to emphysema, but their associations with quantitative emphysema in human lung tissue remain uncertain.
Methods
We analyzed lung tissue miRNA expression and clinical phenotypes from 117 patients with COPD/emphysema in GSE201121. After expression filtering, 839 miRNA loci were evaluated for association with percent emphysema (quantitative CT-derived percent low-attenuation area below -950 HU) using linear regression adjusted for age and sex with HC3 heteroskedasticity-robust standard errors. Multiple testing was controlled using the Benjamini-Hochberg false discovery rate (BH-FDR). Significant loci were collapsed to unique mature miRNAs. Secondary analyses examined associations with FEV1 % predicted, FEV1/FVC, and DLCO. Sensitivity analyses excluded influential observations, used log-transformed percent emphysema, and evaluated former smokers with adjustment for pack-years. Experimentally validated miRNA-target interactions were queried using multiMiR, followed by Gene Ontology Biological Process enrichment.