Assessment of acute pancreatitis severity via determination of serum levels of hsa-miR-126-5p and IL-6

Early assessment of acute pancreatitis (AP) severity is key to its treatment. The present study aimed to explore the role of microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) combined with inflammatory factors in determining AP severity. For this, serum pro-inflammatory cytokines [tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-alpha, interleukin (IL)-1, IL-6, IL-8 and IL-10)] and miRNAs [Homo sapiens (hsa)-miR-548d-5p, hsa-miR-126-5p and hsa-miR-130b-5p] were detected in patients with mild AP (MAP), severe AP (SAP) and recurrent AP (RAP). High expression of IL-10, TNF-alpha, hsa-miR-126-5p, hsa-miR-548d-5p and hsa-miR-130b-5p was able to distinguish SAP from MAP and RAP (P<0.05). Multifactorial binary logistic regression analysis indicated that IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p/hsa-miR-548d-5p had a significant influence on AP and AP severity (P<0.05). Receiver operating characteristic analysis revealed that IL-1 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p [area under the curve (AUC), 0.926; sensitivity, 90.0%; specificity, 86.7%, P<0.001] and IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p (AUC, 0.952; sensitivity, 93.3%; specificity, 90.0%; P<0.001) were able to better distinguish MAP from SAP than IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-548d-5p, lipase, and amylase. IL-1 or IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-548d-5p (AUC, 0.924; sensitivity, 83.3%; specificity, 93.3%; P<0.001) were able to better distinguish SAP from RAP than IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p, lipase, and amylase. IL-1 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p (AUC, 0.926; sensitivity, 90.0%; specificity, 86.7%; P<0.001) and IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-126-5p (AUC, 0.952; sensitivity, 93.3%; specificity, 90.0%; P<0.001) were able to better differentiate between MAP and RAP than IL-1/IL-6 combined with hsa-miR-548d-5p, lipase, and amylase. These results demonstrated that the combined detection of serum IL-6 and hsa-miR-126-5p may be useful for the early prediction of AP classification.