Statistical Analysis for Identifying Differentially MicroRNA in Serum Exosomes of Lead Workers

Abstract EN

Exosomes can transmit central nervous system (CNS) information to the peripheral circulatory system through the brain barrier, and exosomes in the blood can also enter the central nervous system likewise.

The components of exosomal contents play a pivotal role in cell signal communication, and thus, the transmission of exosomal content components is considered as a newly discovered method of long-distance communication between cells.

The current is aimed to explore the changes of the exosomal microRNA group in the serum of lead-exposed workers, which might be involved in the lead-induced neuroinflammation, especially the activation of microglia and the release of inflammatory factors.

We proposed a method combining statistical analysis and experiment according to the different expression of exosomal microRNA.

Firstly, we divided workers into two groups, lead-exposed group and control group, and then questionnaires were used to obtain their basic information, and medical testing methods were used to obtain their serum exosomes.

Secondly, principal component analysis was used to construct a comprehensive index of neurobehavioral function.

Furthermore, volcano map and heatmap were used to display the differential gene distribution and correlation analysis of expression levels, respectively.

Finally, two software applications, TargetScan and miRanda, were used to predict the target genes of the significantly different microRNAs, respectively, and the target genes predicted by the two software applications are screened according to the scoring standards of each software.

Our results showed that 73 microRNAs were changed in the serum exosomes of lead-exposed worker, among which 48 microRNAs are upregulated and 25 microRNAs are downregulated.

Moreover, the miR-124 and miR-506 were identified, and they might be involved in the process of lead-induced neuroinflammation.