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. 2025 Apr 30;52(1):441.
doi: 10.1007/s11033-025-10534-y.

Altered miRNA expression in duodenal tissue of celiac patients and the impact of a gluten-free diet: a preliminary study

Zuzana Kolkova  1 , Stanislava Suroviakova  2   3 , Marian Grendar  4 , Zuzana Havlicekova  5   6 , Andrea Hornakova  1 , Veronika Holubekova  1 , Erika Halasova  7 , Peter Banovcin  5   6
Affiliations

Altered miRNA expression in duodenal tissue of celiac patients and the impact of a gluten-free diet: a preliminary study

Zuzana Kolkova et al. Mol Biol Rep. .

Abstract

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are crucial regulators of gene expression, impacting a wide range of biological processes. Their dysregulation can result in pathological changes and contribute to the development of various disorders. This study aims to evaluate the expression of selected miRNAs in duodenal tissue of paediatric patients with active celiac disease (CD), investigate the role of dysregulated miRNAs in disease pathogenesis and assess the changes in their expression profile in response to a gluten-free diet (GFD).

Methods and results: The study included newly diagnosed celiac patients (n = 20), celiac patients adhering to a GFD (n = 17) and a control group (n = 29). The miRNA expression in duodenal samples was quantified by real-time PCR. Dysregulated miRNAs were analysed for functional enrichment in molecular pathways. Our results identified 8 dysregulated miRNAs in celiac patients: miR-155-5p (upregulated) and hsa-miR-22-5p, hsa-miR-192-5p, hsa-miR-338-3p, hsa-miR-31-5p, hsa-miR-31-3p, hsa-miR-215-5p and hsa-miR-378d (downregulated). Pathway analysis implicated these miRNAs in regulating various signaling pathways related to inflammation, immune response and intercellular junctions, all of which are relevant to the pathogenesis of CD. Moreover, miR-31-3p was upregulated in CD patients on a GFD, exhibiting a negative correlation with the duration of GFD. For other miRNAs, the level of expression in CD patients adhering to a GFD was restored to levels similar to those observed in the control group.

Conclusion: This preliminary study reveals significant changes in miRNA expression in duodenal biopsies from paediatric CD patients and how these patterns shift with dietary intervention. Understanding the interactions among dysregulated miRNAs may lead to novel therapeutic strategies for managing CD.

Keywords: Celiac disease; Dysregulation; Gluten-free diet; MiRNA; Molecular pathways.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethical approval: This study was performed in line with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki. Approval was granted by the Ethical commitee of Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin, Comenius University in Bratislava (EK 60/2018). Consent to participate: Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants/their legal guardians included in the study. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Boxplots illustrating the log2 fold change (log2FC) in miRNA expression levels in the CD group compared to the control group. Each boxplot represents the distribution of log2FC values for specific miRNAs
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
The 20 most enriched KEGG pathways from gene union analysis provided by miRPath v4.0
Fig. 3
Fig. 3
Boxplots presenting the log2 fold change (log2FC) in miRNA expression levels between celiac patients on a gluten-free diet and the control group. Each boxplot illustrates the distribution of log2FC values for specific miRNAs
Fig. 4
Fig. 4
Scatterplot illustrating the relationship between miR-31-3p expression and the duration of GFD in celiac patients. Each point on the plot represents an individual patient with the duration of GFD adherence (in years) on the x axis and the miRNA-31-3p expression level as a FC relative to non-celiac controls
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