Observational Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025.
World J Gastroenterol. Aug 21, 2025; 31(31): 109828
Published online Aug 21, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i31.109828
Figure 1
Figure 1 Significant differences in microRNA expression and functional enrichment of primary biliary cholangitis with different ursodeoxycholic acid efficacy. A: Scheme of overall study design; B: The number of differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) before ursodeoxycholic acid treatment in the sensitive group and the resistance group. Up-regulated miRNAs are colored in red and down-regulated miRNAs are colored in blue; C: Volcano plot shows miRNAs that differ significantly between the two groups, based on fold change (drug sensitive pre-treatment vs drug resistance pre-treatment; drug sensitive post-treatment vs drug resistance pre-treatment) and P-value. In particular, blue (fold change < -1.25; P < 0.05) or red dots (fold change > 1.25; P < 0.05) indicate the presence of significantly downregulated or upregulated miRNAs, respectively. Gray dots were non-significantly different miRNAs; D: Clustering heatmap of pre-treatment differential miRNAs expression between resistant and sensitive groups. Red indicates upregulation and blue indicates downregulation. The columns and rows represent experimental SP samples and miRNAs, respectively; E: Clustering heatmap of differential miRNAs expression before and after treatment in the sensitive group; F: Gene Ontology enrichment analysis of differential miRNA target genes before ursodeoxycholic acid treatment in sensitive and resistance groups; G: Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes enrichment analysis of the differential miRNAs target genes. UDCA: Ursodeoxycholic acid; PBC: Primary biliary cholangitis; miRNA-seq: MicroRNA sequencing; RT-qRCR: Real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction; DRpre: Drug resistance pre-treatment; DSpre: Drug sensitive pre-treatment; DSpost: Drug sensitive post-treatment.
Figure 2
Figure 2 Primary biliary cholangitis patients with high baseline miR-126-3p expression are sensitive to ursodeoxycholic acid, miR-126-3p expression was consistently upregulated after receiving ursodeoxycholic acid treatment and correlated with liver function. A: Differentially expressed microRNAs (miRNAs) screened by sequencing were validated by quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction in the discovery cohort; B: The top three differentially expressed folds of miRNAs from sequencing were selected in the test cohort for quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction validation; C: Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis of miR-126-3p expression as a predictor of ursodeoxycholic acid efficacy; D: Comparison of miR-126-3p expression before and after treatment in primary biliary cholangitis patients in the test cohort; E: Correlation between miR-126-3p expression and liver function indexes. aP < 0.05; bP < 0.01; cP < 0.005; dP < 0.001. DRpre: Drug resistance pre-treatment; DRpost: Drug resistance post-treatment; DSpre: Drug sensitive pre-treatment; DSpost: Drug sensitive post-treatment; AUC: Area under the curve; ALT: Alanine aminotransferase; AST: Aspartate aminotransferase; ALP: Alkaline phosphatase; GGT: Gamma-glutamyl transferase; TBIL: Total bilirubin; IgG: Immunoglobulin G.