Circulating microRNA-133a in Patients With Arterial Hypertension, Hypertensive Heart Disease, and Left Ventricular Diastolic Dysfunction

<b>Aim:</b> The aim of the work was to study the circulating microRNA-133a levels in blood plasma of patients with arterial hypertension (AH), hypertensive heart disease (HHD), and left ventricular (LV) diastolic dysfunction (DD). <b>Materials and Methods:</b> A total of 48 patients with grade 2-3 AH and HHD at the age of 52.23 ± 7.26 (23 patients had LV DD [main group] and 25 patients had normal LV diastolic function [comparison group]) and 21 practically healthy individuals of comparable gender and age were examined. Diagnosis of AH and HHD was carried out according to the 2018 ESC/ESH recommendations. LV DD was determined according to the 2016 ASE/EACVI recommendations. Plasma microRNA-133a level was obtained by polymerase chain reaction using the CFX96 Touch System (BioRad), ≪TaqMan microRNA Assay≫ and ≪TaqMan® Universal PCR Master Mix≫ reagent kits (Thermo Fisher Scientific, USA). <b>Results:</b> We have found that in patients from the main and comparison groups plasma microRNA-133a levels were significantly lower than in practically healthy individuals (0.094 [0.067, 0.147]) and (0.182 [0.102, 0.301]) vs. (0.382 [0.198,0.474]), <i>p</i> = 0.002 and <i>p</i> = 0.04, respectively. In all this among patients with AH, HHD, and LV DD, plasma microRNA-133a levels were significantly lower than in patients with AH, HHD, and normal diastolic function (<i>p</i> = 0.03). In the main and comparison groups there was a statistically significant negative relationship between plasma microRNA-133a level and left ventricular mass index (LVMI) (<i>R</i> = -0.40, <i>p</i> = 0.003 and <i>R</i> = -0.35, <i>p</i> = 0.04, respectively). <b>Conclusions:</b> The findings suggest the significant role of decreased microRNA-133a levels in blood plasma of patients with AH in the pathogenesis and development of both HHD and LV DD.