Plasma levels of microRNA let-7c-5p may predict the risk of acute chest syndrome in patients with sickle cell disease

Acute Chest Syndrome (ACS) is one of the most severe complications of Sickle Cell Disease (SCD). While the pathogenesis of ACS is incompletely understood, endothelial damage and microvascular occlusion are critical components. Our previous studies have implicated small extracellular vesicles in the plasma of subjects with SCD in induction of endothelial dysfunction. We hypothesized that microRNAs contained within these small EVs could be responsible for the endothelial damage. Sequencing of the microRNAs in small EVs from the plasma of SCD subjects revealed that several miRNAs were differentially expressed between subjects with or and without ACS history, including let-7c-5p. RNASeq profiling of micro RNAs in small extracellualr vesicles isolated from the plama of human subjects with sickle cell disease *************************************************************** Raw files for human/patient samples were not submitted to GEO due to concerns about submitting personally identifiable sequence data for open access. ***************************************************************