Screening of differentially expressed circulating microRNAs during osteoporosis

To explore the variation of serum microRNA expression during osteoporosis, we have employed microRNA microarray expression profiling as a discovery platform to identify microRNAs with the potential to diagnose osteoporosis from healthy and osteopenia individuals for clinical use. Whole blood from healthy, osteopenic and osteoporotic donors was collected, and the sera were separated. Twenty two microRNAs (miR-15a-5p, miR-29b-5p, miR-30c-2-3p, miR-145-5p, miR-199a-5p, miR-301a-3p, miR-424-5p, miR-497-5p, miR-526b-5p, miR-550a-5p, miR-575, miR-654-5p, miR-663a, miR-708-5p, miR-877-3p, miR-1246, miR-1260b, miR-1299, miR-1323, miR-4447, miR-4769-3p and miR-5685) were finally used for further detection of osteoporosis diagnosis. Gradually differed microRNAs were measured in healthy, osteopenic and osteoporotic participants. Three independent cohorts were performed to verify the diagnostic performance.