2236: Association of microRNA-30b Plasma Expression with Fibromyalgia Clinical Features and with Corneal Small Nerve Fiber Pathology

Laura Aline Martínez Martínez¹, Fausto Sánchez Muñoz¹, Manuel Ramírez Fernández², Yaneli Juárez Vicuña¹, Mario Peña-Peña¹, Carlos Alfonso Guzman Martin¹, Itzel Palafox Sosa¹ and Manuel Martínez-Lavín¹, ¹Instituto Nacional de Cardiología Ignacio Chávez, Ciudad de México, Mexico, ²APEC Hospital de la ceguera, Ciudad de México, Mexico

Background/Purpose: There is a clear association between fibromyalgia and small fiber neuropathy. Dorsal root ganglia contain the small nerve fiber nuclei. Severe fibromyalgia is associated to particular dorsal root ganglia Nav1.7 sodium channel gen polymorphism [Vargas-Alarcón et al. BMC Musculoskelet Disord 2012; 13;23]. Corneal confocal microscopy unveiled small nerve fiber pathology in fibromyalgia patients [Ramirez et al. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 2015: 45;214]. MicroRNA-30b strongly regulates expression of dorsal root ganglia Nav1.7 sodium channel in nerve injury-induced neuropathic pain in the rat [Shao et al. Mol Pain 2016: 12; 1]. MicroRNA plasma levels are potential disease biomarkers. The aim of this study was to explore the association of MicroRNA-30b plasma levels with fibromyalgia clinical features and with corneal small nerve fiber abnormalities.

Methods: We studied 46 adult women suffering from fibromyalgia without metabolic or autoimmune comorbidities and 26 age, sex, and body mass index matched healthy women. All individuals filled the following questionnaires: Revised Fibromyalgia Impact, Widespread Pain Index, Severity Symptom Score, Poly-symptomatic Distress Scale, Dysautonomia (COMPASS-31), neuropathic pain (LANSS), small fiber neuropathy, anxiety (GADS-7), depression (PHQ9), and quality of life (EuroQol). Twenty-eight fibromyalgia patients underwent corneal confocal microscopy searching for small nerve fiber pathology.

MicroRNA-30b was detected with primer specific cDNA synthesis and TaqMan probes from Applied Biosystems followed by qPCR. Plasma microRNA abundance was expressed as 50-target miRNA Cq values and by means of 2-(Cq target-Cq miR-16) formula.

Results: In the fibromyalgia cohort, microRNA-30b plasma levels displayed significant correlation with the following features: Corneal small nerve fiber tortuosity (Rho=-0.380, p=0.046), disease chronicity (Rho=0.306, p=0.039), fatigue (Rho=0.302, p=0.041), bladder symptoms (Rho=0.333, p=0.024), depression (Rho=0.397, p=0.006) and anxiety (Rho=0.448, p=0.002). The difference in microRNA-30b plasma levels between patients and controls had borderline significance (p=0.085).

Conclusion: The correlation between microRNA-30b plasma levels and corneal small nerve fiber tortuosity suggest that this short segment of RNA plays a role in human neuropathic pain. MicroRNA-30b may play a role in fibromyalgia pathogenesis.

Disclosures: L. Martínez Martínez, None; F. Sánchez Muñoz, None; M. Ramírez Fernández, None; Y. Juárez Vicuña, None; M. Peña-Peña, None; C. Guzman Martin, None; I. Palafox Sosa, None; M. Martínez-Lavín, None.