Effect of Aging and Sex on Circulating MicroRNAs in Humans

Shuji Sawada, Takayuki Akimoto, Masaki Takahashi, Ryota Sakurai, Shoji Shinkai, Takashi Ushida, Yoshinori Fujiwara, Katsuhiko Suzuki

Division of Regenerative Medical Engineering, Center for Disease Biology and Integrative Medicine, Graduate School of Medicine, The University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo, Japan.
Faculty of Sports Science, Waseda University, Mikajima 2-579-15, Tokorozawa, Saitama, Japan.
Institute for Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, Waseda University, Wakamatsu-cho 2-2, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo, Japan.
Research Team for Social Participation and Community Health, Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Gerontology, 35-2 Sakae-cho, Itabashi-ku, Tokyo, Japan.

DOI: 10.4236/aar.2014.32023                

Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been reported as potentially being useful biomarkers for various diseases including cancer, diabetes mellitus, heart disease, neurological disease and age-related diseases. In the present study, we aimed to determine whether the expression levels of circulating miRNAs in serum were changed with aging or sex. Serum samples from seven elderly males (69.86 ± 1.77 years old) and females (72.43 ± 1.49 years old), and six young males (26.17 ± 0.83 years old) and females (23.17 ± 1.52 years old) were obtained from the subject’s forearm at rest. The expression levels of circulating miR-146a and miR-20a in serum were determined by real-time TaqMan PCR. There were no differences in the expression levels of miR-146a between all groups. There was a significant interaction in this main effect where miR-20a levels were significantly lower in elderly male subjects when compared to young male subjects with no difference observed in young or elderly female subjects (p = 0.004 and p = 0.971, respectively). These results suggest that not all the miRNAs in the circulation are influenced by the effect of aging, but only some miRNAs may be selectively changed by the effect of aging.

Keywords

miRNA, Serum, Aging, Sex Difference, Biomarker

Conflicts of Interest

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

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