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Plasma microRNA-126-3p and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with chronic kidney disease: relationships to ambulatory 24-h blood pressure

Abstract

Pro-inflammatory milieu of chronic kidney disease (CKD) results in endothelial damage and contributes to increased cardiovascular risk. The aim of the study was to evaluate association between neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) and plasma relative expression of endothelially abundant miR-126-3p with circadian blood pressure (BP) pattern in CKD patients. This single-center observational study involved CKD stage 1–5 patients and healthy age- and sex-matched control subjects. All study participants had 24-h automatic blood pressure measurement (ABPM) performed. Plasma miRNA was quantified by qRT-PCR, in relation to endogenous U6 snRNA. In total, 90 CKD patients (60 ± 14 years, 52% males, 33 renal transplant recipients) and 25 healthy control subjects (55 ± 13 years, 48% males, p > 0.05) were enrolled in the study. We observed a positive correlation between miR-126-3p and average nighttime SBP (rho = 0.27, P = 0.02), average nighttime DBP (rho = 0.32, P = 0.003), night–day SBP ratio (ND-SBP), rho = 0.23, P = 0.03 and night–day DBP ratio (ND-DBP), rho = 0.26, P = 0.02. A positive association was found between NLR and average nighttime SBP (rho = 0.25, P = 0.01), ND-SBP (rho = 0.26, P = 0.006), and ND-DBP (rho = 0.28, P = 0.03). In the multiple regression model, NLR remained an independent predictor of average nighttime SBP (Beta per log change of NLR [95% CI]: 11.2 [1.8–10.6], P = 0.02), whereas miR-126-3p of nighttime DBP (1.88 [0.48; 3.28], p = 0.009), The results of our study point towards a link between both NLR and miR-126-3p and nighttime hypertension in CKD patients.

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Fig. 1: Correlations between miR-126-3p and ABPM parameters.
Fig. 2: Correlations between NLR and ABPM parameters.

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Acknowledgements

This project has received funding “Young Investigators Grant” from the Second Faculty of Medicine, Medical University of Warsaw awarded by Polish Ministry of Science and Higher Education in the year 2016–2017 (2W62/PM1/16/16, to DKT).

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DKT contributed to conception and design, collection, analysis and interpretation of data and wrote the manuscript. TP contributed to conception and design, data collection, interpreted and discussed the results. DZ contributed to collection and analysis of data. DS contributed to data collection and manuscript drafting. MJ discussed the results. LP contributed to conception and design, interpretation of data and discussion of the results. MK contributed to conception and design, interpretation of data and discussion of the results. All authors contributed to the revision of the draft and finally approved the manuscript.

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Correspondence to Leszek Pączek.

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Klimczak-Tomaniak, D., Pilecki, T., Żochowska, D. et al. Plasma microRNA-126-3p and neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio in patients with chronic kidney disease: relationships to ambulatory 24-h blood pressure. J Hum Hypertens 34, 248–257 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41371-019-0293-9

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