A Prospective Cohort Study of Fecal miR-223 and miR-451a as Noninvasive and Specific Biomarkers for Diagnosis of Necrotizing Enterocolitis in Preterm Infants.

Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the usefulness of fecal microRNA (miR)-223 and miR-451a, as novel noninvasive biomarkers for early diagnosis of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) in preterm infants.

Methods: Among the top-listed target miRNAs in our previous differential microarray analysis, miR-223 and miR-451a were quantified in a pilot validation case-controlled study (NEC vs. non-NEC/nonsepsis infants; n = 6 in each group).

Plasma miR-1290 Is a Novel and Specific Biomarker for Early Diagnosis of Necrotizing Enterocolitis-Biomarker Discovery with Prospective Cohort Evaluation.

Objective: To discover specific circulating microRNA (miRNA) biomarkers for the early differentiation of necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) from neonatal sepsis and inflammatory conditions.

Study Design: The study comprised 3 distinct phases: differential microarray analysis to compare plasma miRNA expression profiles of NEC vs sepsis and non-NEC/nonsepsis cases, a case-control study to quantify dysregulated miRNAs as potential specific biomarkers of NEC, and a prospective cohort study to assess the diagnostic usefulness of the best miRNA biomarker(s).

Results: A distinct miRNA expression profile was observed in the NEC compared with the sepsis and non-NEC/nonsepsis groups.