Abstract
BACKGROUND: Macrosomia is defined as an infant's birth weight of more than 4000 g. Although microRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the pathogenesis of various diseases, the associations between serum miRNAs and macrosomia have been rarely reported. METHODOLOGY: We used the Taqman Low Density Array followed by quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction assays to screen for miRNAs associated with macrosomia using serum samples collected 1 week before delivery. RESULTS: Profiling results showed that 1 miRNA was significantly upregulated and 10 miRNAs were significantly downregulated in serum samples of macrosomia (ΔΔCt > 3-fold). The expression levels of miR-21 were significantly decreased in macrosomia as compared to the controls in the third trimester. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analyses showed that the area under the ROC curve for miR-21 was 67.7% (sensitivity = 66.7% and specificity = 70.0%). CONCLUSIONS: miR-21 in maternal serum is differentially expressed between macrosomia and controls, and miR-21 could be used as a candidate biomarker to predict macrosomia.