Abstract
Background: Osteoporosis (OP) represents a major global health problem, particularly when complicated by fragility fractures. Current diagnostic methods primarily rely on bone mineral density (BMD) measurements, which may not accurately capture early disease progression. This study investigated the diagnostic potential of circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) as non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers for osteoporosis in patients with intertrochanteric fractures.
Methods: A total of 50 osteoporotic patients with intertrochanteric fractures and 50 non-osteoporotic patients as a control group were recruited to detect circulating levels of 9 miRNAs as potential diagnostic biomarkers in osteoporotic patients. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to evaluate mRNA expression levels. Statistical analysis included appropriate corrections for multiple comparisons and correlation analysis with clinical parameters.
Results: Findings demonstrated that miR-148a-3p, miR-144, miR-135b-5p, miR‐124‐3p, miR-125b-5p, miR-100-5p, miR-96, miR-122-5p, and miR-21-5p were significantly overexpressed in osteoporotic patients with intertrochanteric fractures compared to the control group (P<0.0056 after Bonferroni correction). Several miRNAs showed significant negative correlations with T-scores, indicating association with the severity of the disease.
Conclusion: Our findings identified a panel of 9 circulating miRNAs that may serve as novel diagnostic biomarkers for osteoporosis in patients with intertrochanteric fractures. These results offer new insights into miRNA-based diagnostics and support the development of non-invasive screening approaches for early detection of osteoporosis. However, validation in independent cohorts is required before clinical implementation.