Circulating miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

Circulating miRNAs as diagnostic biomarkers for adolescent idiopathic scoliosis

The aetiology of adolescent idiopathic scoliosis (AIS) has been linked to many factors, such as asymmetric growth, neuromuscular condition, bone strength and genetic background. Recently, epigenetic factors have been proposed as contributors of AIS physiopathology, but information about the molecular mechanisms and pathways involved is scarce.

This paper written by one of our founders, Dr. José Luis García Gimenez, describes the use of Next-Generation Sequencing to discover a series of circulating miRNAs detected in the blood samples of AIS patients, which yielded a unique miRNA biomarker signature that diagnoses AIS with high sensitivity and specificity.

The authors propose that these miRNAs participate in the epigenetic control of signaling pathways by regulating osteoblast and osteoclast differentiation, thus modulating the genetic background of AIS patients.

Their study yielded two relevant results:

1) evidence for the deregulated miRNAs that participate in osteoblast/osteoclast differentiation mechanisms in AIS;

2) this miRNA-signature can be potentially used as a clinical tool for molecular AIS diagnosis. Using miRNAs as biomarkers for AIS diagnostics is especially relevant since miRNAs can serve for early diagnoses and for evaluating the positive effects of applied therapies to therefore reduce the need for high-risk surgical interventions.

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