Evaluating the expression of miR-29b in Peyronie's disease

• Grant number: 19/19139-5
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: December 01, 2019
• End date: November 30, 2020
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Medicine - Surgery
• Principal Investigator: Sabrina Thalita dos Reis Faria
• Grantee: Vinicius Genuino dos Santos
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Medicina (FM). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Peyronie's Disease (PD) is a disease that affects about 13.1% of the entire male population worldwide, being more evident in men over 50 years. The disease is characterized by the formation of fibrous plaques in the albuminous tunic of the penis and the main signs and symptoms are pain, erectile dysfunction, and penile deformation. Today, the most accepted theory is that the disease is caused by microtrauma to the penis of men with fibrosis predisposition. The formation of fibrous plaque is divided in three phases, known as phase I, II and III; During phase I there is an acute inflammatory process, phase II is known for the large collagen deposition that will have its remodeling in phase III of the disease. Currently, there are few effective therapies for PD, especially because its molecular mechanisms are not fully understood. Thus, the study of microRNA (miRNA) may be fundamental for a better understanding of the disease. The miRNAs are endogenous molecules, from 19 to 25 nucleotides, known for their post-transcriptional regulation function of messenger RNA. The miR-29 family consists of three members, miR-29a, miR-29b and miR-29c, which are known for their role of extracellular matrix regulation (ECM). There is a big importance of this miRNA family in the anti-fibrotic process, especially miRNA-29b. The miR-29b has a regulatory role in inhibiting collagen present in ECM (COL1A1, COL1A2, COL4A1, COL5A1, COL5A2, and COL3A1) and has also been described as an inhibitor of the TGF-² coding gene. Thus, this project aims to evaluate the expression of miR-29b present in tissue samples of patients with the disease, since it is known that this miRNA is widely involved in anti-fibrotic biological processes. For analysis of miRNA gene expression will be used the quantitative real-time PCR technique (qRT-PCR).

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

DOS SANTOS, VINICIUS GENUINO; DOS SANTOS, GABRIEL ARANTES; NETO, CRISTOVAO BARBOSA; VIANA, NAYARA IZABEL; PIMENTA, RUAN; GUIMARAES, VANESSA RIBEIRO; CANDIDO, PATRICIA; ROMAO, POLIANA; DE CAMARGO, JULIANA A.; LEITE, KATIA RAMOS MOREIRA; et al. Downregulation of miR-29b is associated with Peyronie's disease. UROLOGIA JOURNAL, AUG 2021. (19/19139-5)