miRNA expression profile in subcutaneous adipose tissue from morbid obese patients

To evaluate wether miRNA expression patterns contributes to obesity total RNA were purified from subcutaneous adipose tissue (SAT)and used in miRNA microarrays. Platform contain LNA-modified probes for all human miRNAs present in release 8.2 of the miRBase microRNA Registry. Two RNA pools from 3 non obese men (CM) and from 5 non obese women (CW) were used as controls. Expression profiling revealed that a large set of miRNAs is expressed in SAT. Forty two miRNAs changed by at least 1.5 folds in 17/20 obese subjects versus non obese control pool. Particularly, 21/42 were up-regulated and 21/42 were down-regulated. Among the differentially expressed miRNA, miR-519d, miR-498 and miR-150 were up-regulated, miR-659 and miR-371-3p_MM2 were down-regulated consistently in 20/20 obese subjects. To search for miRNAs eventually associated with obesity we used a microarray to evaluate the expression of 1458 different miRNAs in 10 obese women (OBW) and 10 obese men (OBM). Two RNA pools from 3 non obese men (CM) and from 5 non obese women (CW) were used as controls.