Detection of microRNA with low abundance in serum of schizophrenia patients

Abstract： Recent studies have revealed that aberrant expression of serum miRNA can directly reflect disease status. However, the study of serum miRNA for schizophrenia has not been reported so far. In this paper, the expression levels of serum miR-346 which is the most promising miRNAs to reflect schizophrenia status are studied. Semi-nested qRT-PCR was developed to detect miR-346 with very low abundance in serum sensitively and specifically. The results showed that the expression levels of miR-346 were significantly higher in schizophrenia patients than those in normal subjects. Compared with family schizophrenia patients, circulating miR-346 was significantly higher in sporadic schizophrenia, indicating that there is a positive correlation of circulating miRNA-346 level between schizophrenia patients with and without family history.