Circulating microRNAs as biomarkers of Chagas cardiomyopathy

Laura Antonietti; Javier Mariani; María Jose Martínez; Manuela Santalla; Natalia Vensentini; Diego Alfredo Kyle; Maximiliano de Abreu; Carlos Tajer; Ezequiel Lacunza; Paola Ferrero

doi:10.3389/fcvm.2023.1250029

Circulating microRNAs as biomarkers of Chagas cardiomyopathy

Front Cardiovasc Med. 2023 Dec 19:10:1250029. doi: 10.3389/fcvm.2023.1250029. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Laura Antonietti^{1

2}, Javier Mariani^{1

2}, María Jose Martínez¹, Manuela Santalla³, Natalia Vensentini¹, Diego Alfredo Kyle¹, Maximiliano de Abreu^{1

2}, Carlos Tajer^{1

2}, Ezequiel Lacunza⁴, Paola Ferrero³

Affiliations

¹ Department of Cardiology, El Cruce Hospital, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
² Health Sciences Institute, Arturo Jauretche National University, Florencio Varela, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
³ Cardiovascular Research Center Dr. Horacio Cingolani, Faculty of Medical Sciences, La Plata National University, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
⁴ Basic and Applied Inmunological Research, Faculty of Medical Sciences, La Plata National University, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Abstract

Background: Chagas cardiomyopathy (CHCM) is the most important clinical manifestation of Chagas disease. The analysis of cardiac miRNAs may contribute to predicting the progression to CHCM in Chagas indeterminate phase and/or to the differential diagnosis for cardiomyopathy.

Methods: We carried out a case-control study to identify circulating miRNAs associated with CHCM. We assigned 104 participants to four groups: healthy controls (HC), Chagas non-cardiomyopathy controls, CHCM cases, and ischemic cardiomyopathy controls. We performed a clinical, echocardiographic, and laboratory evaluation and profiled circulating miRNA in the serum samples.

Results: Differences between groups were observed in clinical variables and in the analysis of miRNAs. Compared to HC, CHCM participants had 4 over-expressed and 6 under-expressed miRNAs; miR-95-3p and miR-130b-3p were upregulated in CHCM compared with controls, Chagas non-cardiomyopathy and ischemic cardiomyopathy participants, suggesting that might be a hallmark of CHCM. Analysis of gene targets associated with cardiac injury yielded results of genes involved in arrhythmia generation, cardiomegaly, and hypertrophy.

Conclusions: Our data suggest that the expression of circulating miRNAs identified by deep sequencing in CHCM could be associated with different cardiac phenotypes in CHCM subjects, compared with Chagas non-CHCM, ischemic cardiomyopathy controls, and healthy controls.

Keywords: Chagas cardiomyopathy; Chagas disease; biomarkers; circulating microRNAs; microRNAs.

Grants and funding

Hospital El Cruce, Universidad Nacional Arturo Jauretche, and National Agency for Research, Development, and Innovation funded this study. Florencio Fiorini Fundation-Biomedical Research to PF. 2016.