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. 2021 Sep 24;9(10):134.
doi: 10.3390/sports9100134.

A Pilot Study of miRNA Expression Profile as a Liquid Biopsy for Full-Marathon Participants

Tomoaki Kuji  1   2 , Takehito Sugasawa  3 , Shin-Ichiro Fujita  3 , Seiko Ono  4 , Yasushi Kawakami  3 , Kazuhiro Takekoshi  3
Affiliations

A Pilot Study of miRNA Expression Profile as a Liquid Biopsy for Full-Marathon Participants

Tomoaki Kuji et al. Sports (Basel). .

Abstract

Exosomal microRNA (miRNA) in plasma and urine has attracted attention as a novel diagnostic tool for pathological conditions. However, the mechanisms of miRNA dynamics in the exercise physiology field are not well understood in terms of monitoring sports performance. This pilot study aimed to reveal the miRNA dynamics in urine and plasma of full-marathon participants. Plasma and urine samples were collected from 26 marathon participants before, immediately after, 2 h after, and one day after a full marathon. The samples were pooled, and exosomal miRNAs were extracted and analyzed using next-generation sequencing. We determined that the exosomal miRNA expression profile changed under time dependency in full marathon. New uncharacterized exosomal miRNAs such as hsa-miR-582-3p and hsa-miR-199a-3p could be potential biomarkers reflecting physical stress of full marathon in plasma and urine. In addition, some muscle miRNAs in plasma and urine have supported the utility for monitoring physical stress. Furthermore, some inflammation-related exosomal miRNAs were useful only in plasma. These results suggest that these exosomal miRNAs in plasma and/or urine are highly sensitive biomarkers for physical stress in full marathons. Thus, our findings may yield valuable insights into exercise physiology.

Keywords: NGS; RNA sequencing; exosome; full marathon; miRNA; small RNA.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Schematic overview of the experimental protocol. Pre, immediately before the full marathon; post, immediately after the full marathon; 2 h, two hours after full marathon; and 1 d, 1 day after full marathon.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Bioinformatics analysis workflow chart.
Figure 3
Figure 3
miRNA expression profile under full marathon. (A): Pearson correlation between samples. (B): Heatmap showing DEMs. Abbreviations: P-pre (plasma sample before marathon), P-post (plasma sample immediately after marathon), P-2h (plasma sample after two hours of marathon), P-1d (plasma sample after one day of marathon), U-pre (urine sample before marathon), U-post (urine sample immediately after marathon), U-2h (urine sample two hours after marathon), and U-1d (urine sample one day after marathon).
Figure 4
Figure 4
Venn diagram showing the fold changes cut-off 2 between Post and Pre time-points in plasma and urine.
Figure 5
Figure 5
Exercise-dependent miRNA expression patterns. (A): Time dependence in plasma samples. (B): Time dependence in urine samples. (C): Time dependence in both plasma and urine samples.
Figure 6
Figure 6
Known muscle-specific miRNA expression showing time dependence in plasma and urine samples.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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