Lower Circulating miR-122 Level in Patients with HNF1A Variant-Induced Diabetes Compared with Type 2 Diabetes

• Main Authors: Xiuting Huang, Siqian Gong, Yumin Ma, Xiaoling Cai, Lingli Zhou, Yingying Luo, Meng Li, Wei Liu, Simin Zhang, Xiuying Zhang, Qian Ren, Yu Zhu, Xianghai Zhou, Rui Zhang, Ling Chen, Xueying Gao, Fang Zhang, Yanai Wang, Xueyao Han, Linong Ji
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Hindawi Limited 2018-01-01
• Series: Journal of Diabetes Research
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2018/7842064
• ISSN: 2314-6745; 2314-6753

miR-122, the expression of which is regulated by several transcription factors, such as HNF1A, was recently reported to be associated with type 2 diabetes (T2DM) and hepatocellular carcinoma. HNF1A variants can cause diabetes and might be involved in the development of primary liver neoplasm. Differences in miR-122 expression among different types of diabetes have not been studied. This study aimed to investigate differences in serum miR-122 levels in Chinese patients with different forms of diabetes, including T2DM, type 1 diabetes (T1DM), HNF1A variant-induced diabetes (HNF1A-DM), glucokinase variant-induced diabetes (GCK-DM), and mitochondrial A3243G mutation-induced diabetes (MDM). In total, 12 HNF1A-DM patients, 24 gender-, age-, and body mass index-matched (1 : 2) T2DM patients and 24 healthy subjects were included in this study. In addition, 30 monogenic diabetes (11 GCK-DM and 19 MDM) and 17 T1DM patients were included. Fasted blood biochemistry and miR-122 were measured. The results showed that the HNF1A-DM patients had lower miR-122 levels [0.046 (0.023, 0.121)] than T2DM patients [0.165 (0.036, 0.939), P=0.02] and healthy controls [0.249 (0.049, 1.234), P=0.019]. The area under the curve of the receiver operating characteristic curve for miR-122 to discriminate HNF1A-DM and T2DM was 0.687 (95% CI: 0.52–0.86, P=0.07). There was no difference in serum miR-122 among HNF1A-DM, GCK-DM, MDM, and T1DM patients. Lower serum miR-122 is a unique feature of HNF1A-DM patients and might partially explain the increased risk for liver neoplasm and abnormal lipid metabolism in HNF1A-DM patients.