miR34a and miR125b are upregulated in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) is a leading cause of blindness, nontraumatic amputation and endstage renal disease, as well as a major cardiovascular risk factor. To determine whether miR125b and miR34a serve an important role in the development of T2DM, the current study investigated the expression profile of two microRNAs (miR34a and miR125b) and their relative genes in peripheral blood mononuclear cells from 73 patients with T2DM and 52 healthy donors by reverse transcriptionquantitative polymerase chain reaction In addition, the association between miR34a, miR125b and their relevant genes expression profile were analyzed with respect to the pathogenesis of T2DM. The present study demonstrated that the expression levels of miR125b and miR34a were elevated in peripheral blood mononuclear cell samples from patients with T2DM. Furthermore, miR34a and miR125b were positively correlated with lowdensity lipoprotein/highdensity lipoprotein (HDL) and Foxp3 and negatively related to triglyceride/HDL. However, no correlation among miR34a, miR125b and the value of homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance, homeostasis model assessment of βcell function and the genes of B lymphocyteinduced maturation protein1, interferon regulatory factor4, P53 and retinoidrelated orphan receptor γt were observed. These results indicate that the alteration of miR34a and miR125b exists in patients with T2DM, which may be involved in the pathogenesis of T2DM, and could be a potential novel biomarker of T2DM.