20.500.12556/DiRROS-28609 Absolute quantification of microRNA miR-875-5p in temporal artery biopsies and its biomarker potential for giant cell arteritis Objectives: To perform absolute quantification of miR-875-5p expression in temporal artery biopsies (TABs) of patients with giant cell arteritis (GCA), associate miR-875-5p copy number with histological and clinical characteristics of patients with GCA, and evaluate the diagnostic value of absolute copy number of miR-875-5p in GCA. Methods: The study included formalin-fixed, paraffin-embedded TABs of 45 treatment-naïve clinically proven patients with GCA, and 19 non-GCA controls. Of the included patients with GCA, 29 had histologically positive and 16 histologically negative TABs. Expression of miR-875-5p was assessed through utilization of quantitative real-time PCR (qPCR) and absolute quantification by digital PCR (dPCR). Results: We determined significantly higher absolute copy number of miR-875-5p in histologically positive TABs of patients with GCA, compared to histologically negative TABs of GCA and non-GCA patients, which significantly correlated with the majority of TAB histopathological parameters and several clinical characteristics of patients with GCA. Notably, we showed a good diagnostic performance of absolute copy number of miR-875-5p in discriminating patients and controls, depending on the extent of vessel wall inflammation and remodeling in affected temporal arteries. Conclusion: Our study revealed that absolute quantification of miR-875-5p expression holds the potential to serve as a supporting biomarker in assessing vessel wall inflammation and remodeling in patients with GCA. Moreover, our results indicate the applicability of absolute quantification by dPCR in detecting low-abundance miRNAs in GCA-affected arterial tissue, whose limiting amounts hinder the utilization of classical qPCR. biomarker digital PCR giant cell arteritis microRNA temporal artery biopsy biološki označevalec digitalna PCR arteritis velikanskih celic mikroRNA biopsija temporalne arterije true false true Angleški jezik Slovenski jezik Neznano 2026-03-25 14:38:40 2026-03-25 14:38:40 2026-03-27 04:09:37 0000-00-00 00:00:00 2026 0 0 Nasl. z nasl. zaslona; Opis vira z dne 6. 3. 2026; str. 1-8 iss [article no.] 1731784 Vol. 17 Feb. 2026 0000-00-00 Zaloznikova Objavljeno NiDoloceno 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 0000-00-00 616-097 1664-3224 10.3389/fimmu.2026.1676244 270816515 RAZ_Bolha_Luka_2026.pdf RAZ_Bolha_Luka_2026.pdf 1 E8683A34D210C7059EA7FBA1D9579E8D f70039232a72f2aeb2423d465dad7c96dde13e4ce852d4a3cd15de9e0491e202 542d1ff7-2850-11f1-aa40-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=42495 https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/immunology/articles/10.3389/fimmu.2026.1676244/full 1 f181c5d5-284f-11f1-aa40-001a4af901a5 https://dirros.openscience.si/Dokument.php?lang=slv&id=42494 Univerzitetni klinični center Ljubljana 0 0 0