Expression Levels of miR-146b and Anti-Cardiac Troponin I in Serum of Children with Viral Myocarditis and Their Clinical Sig-nificance

Background: To investigate the expression levels of microRNA-146b (miR-146b) and cardiac troponin I (anti-cTnI) in serum of children with viral myocarditis and their clinical significance. Methods: Forty-eight children with viral myocarditis (patient group) and 40 healthy physical examinees (healthy group), who were diagnosed in Jinan City People’s Hospital Affiliated to Shandong First Medical Uni-versity, China from Feb 2018 to May 2019, were enrolled as study subjects. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to detect the level of miR-146b in serum of children. ELISA was used to detect the expression of anti-cTnI in serum of children. Pearson was used to analyze the correlation between the level of miR-146b and the level of anti-cTnI, and the factors affecting the prognosis. Results: The levels of miR-146b and anti-cTnI in serum of children in patient group were statistically signifi-cantly higher than those of healthy group (P<0.01). The AUC of miR-146b was 0.741, (95% CI: 0.638-0.843), the specificity was 62.50%, the sensitivity was 82.50%, and the AUC of anti-cTnI was 0.720 (95% CI: 0.608-0.832), the specificity was 64.58% and the sensitivity was 92.50%. The level of miR-146b was positively corre-lated with the level of anti-cTnI (r=0.601, P<0.05). CK-MB, LVEF, miR-146b and anti-cTnI expression were independent risk factors affecting the prognosis. Conclusion: The levels of miR-146b and anti-cTnI increased in serum of patients with viral myocarditis. They were related to the degree of myocardial injury, which indicated that miR-146b and anti-cTnI might be in-volved in the pathological process of viral myocarditis.