microRNA profiling in PBMCs of patients at risk for mood disorders. microRNA profiling in PBMCs of patients at risk for mood disorders

microRNAs are a large class of small regulatory non-coding RNAs that play important roles in nervous system development and plasticity. Differential microRNA expression in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) has been observed in different neurological disorders and could potentially be used for diagnostic purposes and disease classification. Overall design: This project aims to identify miRNAs that are differentially expressed between three different subgroups (control group, genetic risk group, environmental risk group) of patients form a large cohort (n>2000) Recruited in a longitudinal study for affective disorders (MACS). The identified miRNA profiles could be useful for assessing the risk for developing affective disorders, biotyping and treatment response.

微小核糖核酸（microRNAs）是一大类小型调控性非编码RNA，在神经系统发育与可塑性中发挥关键作用。外周血单个核细胞（peripheral blood mononuclear cells，PBMCs）中的差异表达miRNAs已在多种神经系统疾病中被观测到，其有望用于疾病诊断与分类。
研究设计：本项目旨在从一项针对情感障碍的大型纵向队列研究（MACS，招募受试者超2000例）的三组患者亚组（对照组、遗传风险组、环境风险组）中筛选差异表达的miRNAs。所鉴定得到的miRNA表达谱可用于评估情感障碍发病风险、疾病生物分型以及治疗应答。