A subset of circulating microRNAs is expressed differently in patients with myocardial infarction.

The objective of the present study was to analyze the differences in the plasma microRNA (miRNA) expression profiles between patients with myocardial infarction (MI) (with or without heart failure) and individuals in a normal control group using an miRNA array. Specific miRNAs were selected to explore novel circulating markers for MI and heart failure. A total of 15 patients with heart failure and 10 patients without heart failure following acute MI (AMI) were recruited as the AMI with heart failure (AMHF) and with no heart failure (AMNHF) groups, respectively. In addition, 10 patients with an older (≥ 1 year) MI with heart failure were selected as the old MI and heart failure (OMHF) group. Finally, 10 patients with normal coronary angiograms were recruited as the control (N) group. The plasma of peripheral venous blood was collected for miRNA array detection. In the AMHF group, the expression of 17 miRNAs was upregulated and the expression of 21 miRNAs was downregulated by >1.5-fold compared with that in the AMNHF group. Compared with the N group, the expression of miRNAs in the AMNHF group was upregulated in 38 and downregulated in 48 cases by >1.5-fold. Compared with the OMHF group, 13 miRNAs were upregulated and 43 were downregulated by >1.5-fold in the AMHF group. Significant differences in the miRNA expression profiles were observed between patients with different stages of heart failure following MI and individuals in the normal control group. These differences were determined using miRNA array analysis methods based on the peripheral blood plasma. Thus, the specific miRNAs identified in this study may be novel circulating markers for MI and heart failure.