Abstract: Background: MicroRNA 122 (miR-122) has been shown to be a potential biomarker for liver injury in dogs. However, changes in serum miR-122 in dogs with acute liver injury (ALI) over time have not previously been reported.
Objective: To serially quantify miR-122 in serum from dogs with ALI during the first 48 hours of hospitalization.
Animals: Serum samples from 10 dogs with ALI were collected at baseline (T0), 24 hours (T1), and 48 hours (T2) after hospitalization. Serum samples from 10 healthy dogs were used as controls.
Methods: Prospective longitudinal study. MiR-122 was quantified by RT-qPCR. MicroRNA 26b was used as housekeeping gene. Serum ALT activities were concurrently measured. Kruskal-Wallis tests were used to compare baseline miR-122 gene-fold expression and ALT activity in dogs with ALI versus those of healthy controls. Friedman tests were used to assess changes in miR-122 and ALT over time. Spearman’s correlation was used to evaluate the relationship between miR-122 and ALT. Statistical significance was set at P < .05.
Results: At T0 miR-122 expression (P < .001) and ALT activity (P < .001) of dogs with ALI were higher than those of healthy controls. MiR-122 expression (P=.23) and ALT activity (P=.11) did not significantly change over time (Table 1). There was a positive correlation between miR-122 and ALT (P < .001; r=.76).
Conclusions and clinical importance: Although, at the time of hospitalization serum miR-122 expression was increased in dogs with ALI, studies of longer duration are needed to determine if this marker is useful for monitoring changes in liver injury over time.
