Asthma and
chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (
COPD) are chronic airway inflammatory diseases that share some common features, although these diseases are somewhat different in etiologies, clinical features, and treatment policies. The aim of this study is to investigate the common
microRNA-mediated changes in bronchial epithelial cells of
asthma and
COPD. The
microRNA profiles in primary bronchial epithelial cells from
asthma (AHBE) and
COPD (
CHBE) patients and healthy subjects (NHBE) were analyzed with next-generation sequencing (NGS) and the significant
microRNA changes common in AHBE and
CHBE were extracted. The upregulation of hsa-miR-10a-5p and hsa-miR-146a-5p in both AHBE and
CHBE was confirmed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR). Using bioinformatic methods, we further identified putative targets of these
microRNAs, which were downregulated in both AHBE and
CHBE: miR-10a-5p might suppress BCL2, FGFR3, FOXO3, PDE4A, PDE4C, and PDE7A; miR-146a-5p might suppress BCL2, INSR, PDE4D, PDE7A, PDE7B, and PDE11A. We further validated significantly decreased expression levels of FOXO3 and PDE7A in AHBE and
CHBE than in NHBE with qPCR. Increased serum miR-146a-5p level was also noted in patients with
asthma and
COPD as compared with normal control subjects. In summary, our study revealed possible mechanisms mediated by miR-10a-5p and miR-146a-5p in the pathogenesis of both
asthma and
COPD. The findings might provide a scientific basis for developing novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies.