Supplementary Material for: Expression Profiling of MicroRNAs in the Inner Ear of Elderly People by Real-Time PCR Quantification

The molecular mechanisms underlying age-related hearing loss are unknown, and currently, there is no treatment for this condition. Recent studies have shown that microRNAs (miRNAs) and age-related diseases are intimately linked, suggesting that some miRNAs may present attractive therapeutic targets. In this study, we obtained 8 human temporal bones from 8 elderly subjects at brain autopsy in order to investigate the expression profile of miRNAs in the inner ear with miRNA arrays. A mean of 478 different miRNAs were expressed in the samples, of which 348 were commonly expressed in all 8 samples. Of these, levels of 16 miRNAs significantly differed between young elderly and old elderly subjects. miRNAs, which play important roles in inner ear development, were detected in all samples, i.e., in both young and old elderly subjects, whether with or without hearing loss. Our results suggest that these miRNAs play important roles not only in development, but also in the maintenance of inner ear homeostasis.

年龄相关性听力损失的分子机制迄今尚未阐明，目前尚无针对该病症的治疗方案。近期研究证实，微小核糖核酸（microRNAs, miRNAs）与年龄相关性疾病密切相关，提示部分miRNAs或可成为极具潜力的治疗靶点。本研究采集了8名老年受试者死后脑解剖获取的8块人类颞骨，利用miRNA微阵列芯片对内耳中miRNAs的表达谱展开探究。样本中平均可检测到478种不同的miRNAs，其中348种在全部8份样本中均有检出。在上述共表达的miRNAs中，有16种的表达水平在年轻老年受试者与高龄老年受试者间存在显著差异。在内耳发育中发挥重要功能的miRNAs，在所有样本中均被检测到——无论这些样本来自伴或不伴听力损失的年轻或高龄老年受试者。本研究结果提示，此类miRNAs不仅参与内耳发育过程，同时在维持内耳稳态中发挥关键作用。