Circulating miR-155 and JAK2/STAT3 Axis in Acute Ischemic Stroke Patients and Its Relation to Post-Ischemic Inflammation and Associated Ischemic Stroke Risk Factors

Background: "Micro RNAs and their target genes recently have been identified to play a crucial role in the molecular pathogenesis of post-stroke ischemic cellular injury, which elucidates their new role in ischemic stroke diagnosis and therapy". Thus, we evaluated the relative serum expression of miR-155, an inflammatory micro RNA, and the mRNAs (JAK2/STAT3) in acute ischemic stroke patients and its associations with the inflammatory cytokine TNF-alpha and different stroke risk factors. Subjects and Methods: The relative expression of serum miR-155 and mRNAs (JAK2/STAT3) was assessed using RT-PCR, serum TNF-alpha was measured using ELIZA in 46 acute ischemic stroke patients and 50 control subjects. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve was constructed to assess the specificity and sensitivity of circulating miR-155, JAK2/STAT3 as biomarkers for acute ischemic stroke. Results: Circulating miR-155, JAK2/STAT3 were significantly up-regulated among stroke patients (8.5, 2.9, 4.2 fold respectively, P