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BACKGROUND: Studies on the role of microRNAs (miRNA) in anxiety disorders are limited. We aimed to determine the availability of miRNAs as biomarkers in serum and to demonstrate the changes of miRNAs expression in patients with panic disorder (PD). METHODS: Thirty-five patients with PD and 35 healthy controls (HC) were evaluated with Structured Clinical Interview for DSM Disorders-I (SCID-I) and Panic Disorder Severity Scale (PDSS). In each group miRNA expression analysis was performed in venous blood by the Real-time Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT–PCR) method for genetic evaluation.
RESULTS: Compared with the HC group, eight miRNA expression levels were found different in the PD group. Five of them were upregulated and three of them were downregulated. There was no correlation between the levels of miRNA expression with PDSS total score and PDSS sub-items. However, miR-1297 and miR-4465 expression levels were significantly different between the two groups.
LIMITATIONS: There are some limitations in this research. Firstly the number of samples is small. Another limitation of our study is that the presence of medical illness and continuous drug use were not excluded when PD and HC groups were selected.
CONCLUSIONS: Our research is the first miRNA expression study in patients with PD which excluded psychotropic use and additional psychiatric disorders. In the PD group, miR-1297 and miR-4465 expression was upregulated than compared to the HC group. miR-1297 and miR-4465 regulate the GABAA gene regions that affect GABAA receptor subtypes that thought to play a role in the aetiology of PD.