Type 2 diabetes mellitus induced
atherosclerosis (DA) is regarded as a major cause of disability and death in diabetic patients. The early prediction of
atherosclerosis in patients DM is necessary. Therefore, we aimed to identify special plasma
microRNAs that can serve as a novel non-invasive screening signature of DA patients with
atherosclerosis and test its specificity and sensitivity in the early diagnosis of DA. In total, we obtained plasma samples from 285 diabetic
atherosclerosis patients and matched
diabetic retinopathy (DR) patients,
diabetic nephropathy (DN) patients,
diabetes mellitus without complication (DM) and healthy controls. An initial screening of
miRNA expression was performed through TaqMan Low Density Array (TLDA). Three
miRNAs were significantly increased in patients with DA compared with other groups after the multiple stages. The areas under the receiver operating characteristic (AUC) curves of the validated three-plasma
miRNAs signature in DA comparing with NC were 0.881, 0.709 and 0.842 while the merged was 0.940 while DA comparing with DM was 0.879, 0.663, 0.731 and the merged was 0.928. The three
miRNA could also distinguish DA from DN with an AUC of 0.894, 0.782, 0.910 and 0.963 (merged) as well as from DR with an AUC of 0.876, 0.815, 0.850 and 0.925 (merged). In conclusion, these data provide evidence that plasma
miRNAs have the potential to be sensitive, cost-effective
biomarkers for the early detection of DA. These
biomarkers could serve as a dynamic monitoring factor for detecting the progression of DA from DR, DN, DM patients.