Circulating microRNA profiling in serum of pediatric patients with heart failure submitted to VAD implant

Methods: Blood samples were collected from 5 pediatric patients [13±6 (mean±SD) months, 17±2 LVEF%] with HF before and at 4 hrs, 1, 3, 7, 14 and 30 days after VAD implant. C-miRNA profile at VAD implant and after 30 days was determined by NGS. Modified c-miRNA were validated by qRT-PCR and assessed in blood samples collected during time-course after VAD implant. Putative miRNA targets were selected using miRWalk database.
Results: After NGS, a total of 169 c-miRNAs were detected in serum samples of HF pediatric patients. N=13 c-miRNAs were simultaneously modulated at 30 days after VAD implant compared to pre-VAD (Table 1). Among them, only 6 cmiRNAs were confirmed by qRT-PCR (Fig. 1A). Putative targets of selected cmiRNAs
seem to be involved with a synergistic effect in the hemostatic process(Fig. 1B).