Diagnostic and prognostic potential of eight whole blood microRNAs for equine sarcoid disease.
Authors: Cosandey Jeanne, Hamza Eman, Gerber Vinzenz, Ramseyer Alessandra, Leeb Tosso, Jagannathan Vidhya, Blaszczyk Klaudia, Unger Lucia
Journal: PloS one
Summary
Equine sarcoids remain a significant clinical challenge, prompting investigation into blood-based biomarkers that could improve diagnostic accuracy and prognostic precision. Researchers measured expression of eight microRNAs in whole blood samples from 77 horses (Franches-Montagnes and Swiss Warmbloods) categorised into four groups based on 5–12 year follow-up examinations: those with regression, progression, new lesions, or no sarcoid history. Eca-miR-127 showed promise for distinguishing sarcoid-affected horses from unaffected controls, whilst eca-miR-125a-5p and eca-miR-432 demonstrated potential to predict future sarcoid development specifically in young males—though notably, no microRNA combination reliably predicted whether existing sarcoids would progress or regress. Sex and breed substantially influenced microRNA expression patterns, with five and two microRNAs respectively showing bias, suggesting that these factors represent critical confounding variables in future biomarker studies. These findings highlight both the diagnostic potential of circulating microRNAs and the complexity of translating them to clinical practice, particularly the need for sex-stratified interpretation and the current inability to prognosticate disease trajectory once sarcoids have already appeared.
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Practical Takeaways
- •Blood microRNA testing cannot yet predict whether a young horse with existing sarcoids will improve or worsen, limiting its clinical utility for prognosis
- •Sex-specific microRNA panels may eventually help identify young male horses at high risk of developing sarcoids in the future, enabling early monitoring
- •Breed and sex must be accounted for when developing and interpreting equine biomarker tests, as these factors significantly affect microRNA expression independent of disease status
Key Findings
- •Eca-miR-127 discriminated between sarcoid-affected and tumor-free horses in whole blood samples
- •Eca-miR-125a-5p and eca-miR-432 showed potential to predict sarcoid development in young male horses over 5-12 year follow-up period
- •No microRNA expression variation distinguished between horses with sarcoid regression versus progression
- •Sex and breed significantly influenced expression levels of five and two microRNAs respectively, confounding biomarker discovery