EVALUATION OF SERUM EXPRESSION OF MICRORNAS IN HYPERTENSIVE PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE

• Grant number: 23/03119-0
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: November 01, 2023
• End date: October 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Biological Sciences - Biochemistry - Molecular Biology
• Principal Investigator: Roberto Schreiber
• Grantee: Roberto Schreiber
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Ciências Médicas (FCM). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Wilson Nadruz Junior

Abstract

Hypertension is recognized worldwide as a public health problem, because of it is prevalence and incidence in the population. In addition, it is also the primary risk factor for the development of other cardiovascular diseases, and it is important to highlight its ability to promote target organ damage, such as: left ventricular hypertrophy, chronic kidney disease, stroke and retinopathy. MicroRNAs are a group of small molecules (22 nucleotides) of non-coding RNA, evolutionarily conserved, which act by binding to complementary sites on target mRNAs to induce cleavage or repression of productive translation. Several studies suggest that the aberrant expression of miRNAs may be involved in the development of cardiovascular diseases, however little is known about the role of miRNAs expression in the development of chronic kidney disease in hypertensive patients. In this context, the study of the serum expression of miRNAs may result in the discovery of potential biomarkers for the development of chronic kidney disease in hypertensive patients. Preliminary results from our group, evaluating 42 hypertensive patients, demonstrated the differential expression of at least 12 miRNAs between individuals with and without the disease. However, the relationship of these candidate miRNAs with glomerular filtration rate in a larger sample of hypertensive patients, as well as the functional impact of these miRNAs on the development of fibrosis in renal cells remains unknown. The present study intends to expand the investigation on the serum expression of miRNAs and correlate these data with glomerular filtration rate in hypertensive patients, in addition to evaluating in vitro the role of these miRNAs in cellular fibrosis. (AU)