Identification and clinical significance of tsRNAs and miRNAs in PBMCs of treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity

The aim of the study is to reveal the expression profiling and clinical significance of peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) tRNA-derived small RNAs (tsRNAs) and microRNAs (miRNAs) of premature infants with treatment-requiring retinopathy of prematurity (ROP). Significantly altered tsRNAs and miRNAs were screened using small RNA sequencing. RT-qPCR was used to verify the altered RNAs identified by small RNA transcriptomics. The target genes, their enriched functions, and possibly involved signaling pathways were identified by bioinformatics analyses. According to the small RNA sequencing, 125 tsRNAs and 205 miRNAs were significantly altered in PBMCs obtained from infants with treatment-requiring ROP compared with the premature controls without retinopathy. We preliminarily validated the significant alterations of 6 tsRNAs and 9 miRNAs. The target genes for those tsRNAs were enriched for cellular macromolecule metabolic process, intracellular anatomical structure, transcription regulatory region nucleic acid binding, and Th17 cell differentiation; those of the altered miRNAs were enriched for the developmental process, cell junction, DNA-binding transcription activator activity, and FoxO signaling pathway. By verification with the extended sample size, we identified tsRNAs and miRNAs that could be potential biomarkers with clinical values. The study recognized the alterations and clinical significance of changed tsRNA/miRNA profiles in PBMCs from premature infants with ROP. These significantly altered tsRNAs and miRNAs might be useful as potential diagnostic biomarkers and molecular targets for treatment-requiring ROP.