Expression of miR-195-5p in the serum of children with autism spectrum disorder and its correlation with the severity of the disease

Objective The target of this research was to explore the serum miR-195-5p expression in children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and its association with the disease severity. Methods The research enrolled 30 ASD children as the study group and 30 typically developing children as the control group. MiR-195-5p and FGFR1 were detected in the serum and cells of subjects via real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The diagnostic values of miR-195-5p and FGFR1 were assessed using receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curves. The Pearson correlation coefficient was employed to assess the relationship between miR-195-5p and childhood autism rating scale (CARS), autism behavior checklist (ABC), and Clancy autism behavior scale (CABS) scores, as well as the correlation between miR-195-5p and FGFR1 . Bioinformatics was utilized to predict the miR-195-5p-targeted gene. The interaction between miR-195-5p and FGFR1 was validated through luciferase reporter assay. Results Serum miR-195-5p levels were significantly increased in ASD children ( P < 0.001). The ROC results indicated that miR-195-5p had the ability to differentiate between ASD children and control groups. The Pearson correlation coefficient confirmed that miR-195-5p was positively correlated with the CARS score ( r = 0.6699), ABC score ( r = 0.5386), and CABS score ( r = 0.7096). Luciferase reporter experiments and RT-qPCR demonstrated that FGFR1 served as a downstream target gene of miR-195-5p. Further studies revealed that FGFR1 levels were decreased in ASD children ( P < 0.001) and FGFR1 exhibited a negative correlation with miR-195-5p. The ROC results signified that FGFR1 could also distinguish ASD children from the control group. Conclusion Serum miR-195-5p was elevated in ASD children and was positively associated with the disease severity. MiR-195-5p might function as a diagnostic and treatment target for ASD.