Up-regulation of plasma miRNA-21 and miRNA-422a in postmenopausal osteoporosis

Many researchers focused on diverse miRNAs in the progression of osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. This study aimed to evaluate the association between plasma miRNA-21-5p and miRNA-422a with osteoporosis in postmenopausal women. This cross-sectional comparative study was performed on 126 randomly selected postmenopausal women aged 50-65, including 65 osteoporotic and 61 normal-bone mineral density (BMD) women. miRNA-21 and miRNA-422a were identified using qRT-PCR in these women. BMD was evaluated by the dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry method. A binary logistic regression model adjusted for confounders was used to evaluate the associations between plasma miRNAs' expression levels and osteoporosis. The Area Under Curve (AUC) was calculated to differentiate low BMD in the postmenopausal period using Receiver-Operator Characteristic (ROC) curves. miRNA-21 and miRNA-422a were significantly up-regulated in osteoporotic compared to non-osteoporotic postmenopausal women. The expression levels of miRNA-21 and miRNA-422a indicated a significant reverse correlation with both lumbar spine and femoral neck density. After adjusting the confounders, the likelihood of osteoporosis in the postmenopausal women with under the median plasma levels of miRNA-21 (OR = 0.025; 95% CI: 0.003 to 0.198, p