Molecular Mechanism Exploration of Ischemic Stroke by Integrating mRNA and miRNA Expression Profiles

Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death worldwide, and ischemic stroke accounts for about 80 percent of all cases. Ischemic stroke is usually caused by a blockage in an artery to the brain. However, its molecular mechanisms remain largely unclear. The integration of mRNA and miRNA expression patterns is an effective strategy to investigate the potential molecular mechanisms of ischemic stroke in posttranscriptional regulation level. Methods: The mRNA and miRNA expression data were downloaded from the GEO database. The genes and miRNAs with fold change >= 1.5 and p-value <= 0.05 were considered differential expressions. GO and KEGG pathway annotations of differentially expressed genes were performed to investigate the potential biology function. The constructed mRNA-miRNA interaction networks were used to identify new genes and molecular mechanism of ischemic stroke. Results: Three hundred thirty-eight DEGs (differentially expressed genes) in mRNA expression data were collected from blood samples of 23 patients with ischemic stroke and 23 vascular risk factor controls, and 8 miRNAs from peripheral blood cells of 48 patients with ischemic stroke and vascular risk factor controls. By analyzing the mRNA-miRNA regulation network, 6 miRNAs are responsible for the differential expression of 63 DEGs. Among these miRNAs, 4 screened miRNAs were shown to regulate oxidative stress, apoptosis, and thrombus formation of ischemic stroke in previous reports. In addition, the predicted target genes, such as BCL2A1 and TPM2, showed a crucial or potential role in the pathogenic mechanism of ischemic stroke. Conclusions: These results deciphered posttranscriptional regulation of the molecular mechanism of ischemic stroke and identified valuable genes in the development process of ischemic stroke.