Assessment of the relationship between levels of microRNA125b and TNF-α and frequency of crisis in sickle cell anaemia patients

Abstract

Background: The disease burden of Sickle cell anaemia (SCA) with its associated morbidity and mortality is very high in our environment. Expression of TNF-α 
Aim: To assess any relationship between miRNA125b and frequency of vaso-occlussive crisis.
Objectives: This study aims to assess if there is any significant difference in levels of miRNA125b and frequency of crisis in SCA patients and to determine if quantity of miRNA 125b correlates with plasma concentration of TNF-α 
Result: This was a prospective, non-randomized case-controlled study of eighty adult SCA patients recruited by simple consecutive sampling from the sickle cell clinic. The median normalized miRNA 125b was 0.215 (IR- 0.093- 0.365) for SCA patients who have three or more vaso-occlusive crisis per year and 0.145 (IR- 0.085- 0.218) for those with zero to one vaso-occlusive crisis per year. This difference failed to reach a significant level (p= 0.074). The quantity of miRNA 125b in SCA patients showed no correlation with plasma concentration of TNF (p=0.703).
Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the levels of miRNA 125b in sickle cell anaemia patients who have three or more vaso-occlusive crisis per year and those with zero to one vaso-occlusive crisis per year. Also, the quantity of miRNA 125b in SCA patients had no correlation with plasma concentration of TNF-α.