Cigarette smoking alters plasma microRNA expression profile in healthy young male smokers

The stability of circulating miRNAs, their non-invasive sampling techniques and deregulation in diseases make them potential candidate biomarkers of biological effect. Here, we used microarray technique to detect the plasma miRNA expression profiles of 28 healthy young male smokers (present smokers) and 12 non-smokers. As a result, we found that the expression levels of 35 miRNAs were significantly changed in the plasma of present smoker. Furthermore, some of the deregulated miRNAs were confirmed by qRT-PCR. Finally, the enrichment functions and associated diseases of the deregulated miRNA were analyzed as well. Cigarette smoking induced gene expression in human blood was measured. Forty independent experiments were performed using plasma from 28 present-smokers and 12 never-smokers.