Exploring differential miRNA expression profiles in muscular and visceral adipose tissue of patients with severe obesity

Abstract

This study aims to investigate the differential miRNA expression profile between the visceral white adipose tissue and the skeletal muscle of people with obesity undergoing bariatric surgery. Skeletal muscle and visceral adipose tissue samples of 10 controls and 38 people with obesity (50% also with type 2 diabetes) undergoing bariatric surgery were collected. miRNA expression profiles were analyzed using Next-Generation Sequencing and subsequently validated using RT-PCR. Approximately 69% of miRNAs showed similar expression in both tissues, however, 55 miRNAs were preferentially expressed in visceral adipose tissue and 53 in skeletal muscle. miR-122b-5p was uniquely identified in skeletal muscle, while miR-1-3p and miR-206 were upregulated in skeletal muscle. Conversely, miR-224-5p and miR-335-3p exhibited upregulation in visceral adipose tissue. Notably, distinctions related to the presence of type 2 diabetes were observed solely in the expression of miR-1-3p and miR-206 in visceral adipose tissue. This is the first study unveiling distinct miRNA expression profiles in paired samples of visceral adipose tissue and skeletal muscle in humans. The identification of obesity-specific miRNAs in these tissues opens up promising avenues for research into potential biomarkers for obesity diagnosis and treatment.