MicroRNA-17-92a-1 Host Gene (MIR17HG) Expression Signature and rs4284505 Variant Association with Alopecia Areata: A Case-Control Study

Accumulating evidence indicates the implication of microRNAs (miRs) in cutaneous and hair follicle immunobiology. We evaluated, for the first time, the miR-17-92a-1 cluster host gene (MIR17HG) expression in peripheral blood of 248 unrelated alopecia areata (AA) patients compared to 244 matched controls using Real-Time qPCR. We also tested its association with different rs4284505A>G genotypes (based on TaqMan allelic discrimination PCR) and the available clinical data. The adjusted odds ratio (OR) and 95% confidence interval (CI) were calculated for each genetic association model. The upregulation of miR-17 was observed in the serum of patients with alopecia compared to controls (p-value = 0.004). The ROC curve showed high diagnostic performance of miR-17 in differentiating between patients and controls (AUC = 0.85, p-value < 0.001). rs4284505*A/G heterozygotes were more susceptible to the disease (OR = 1.57, 95% CI = 1.01−2.45) under the over-dominant model. Interestingly, patients with the rs4284505*G/G genotype had a higher level of miR-17 than those with the A/A and A/G genotypes. The G/G genotype was associated with the severe phenotype (p-value = 0.038). A/G carriers were the youngest (p-value < 0.001), had more frequent scalp infection (p-value = 0.006), exhibited the worst dermatology life quality index score (p-value = 0.037), and responded less to treatment (p-value = 0.033). In conclusion, MIR17HG expression and the rs4284505 variant were significantly associated with AA and could play a role in pathogenesis and phenotype in the Egyptian population. Further multi-center studies in other ethnicities are warranted to replicate the findings.