Abstract
The present study aimed to detect miR‑29a expression in the plasma of patients with lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) and to investigate the clinical significance. A total of 30 patients with LSS, 27 patients with lumbar intervertebral disc herniation (LDH), 27 healthy people and 7 patients that had succumbed to mortality were involved in the present study for specimen collection. Expression levels of miR‑29a in plasma and intervertebral disc tissue were detected by reverse transcription‑quantitative polymerase chain reaction analysis. Plasma expression levels of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP9) and a disintegrin and metalloproteinase with thrombospondin motifs 5 (ADAMTS5) were detected ELISA. The expression levels of MMP9 and ADAMTS5 protein were detected by western blotting. Pearson correlation analysis was used to analyze the correlations between the expression levels of microRNA (miR)‑29a, MMP9 and ADAMTS5. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to analyze the possibility of the use of miR‑29a as a biomarker of LSS. The expression levels of miR‑29a in plasma and intervertebral disc tissue of patients with LSS were significantly lower in patients with LSS compared with in patients with LDH, as well as healthy controls. Conversely, the protein expression levels of MMP9 and ADAMTS5 were significantly higher in patients with LSS compared with patients with LDH, as well as healthy controls. The expression levels of miR‑29a was negatively correlated with the expression levels of MMP9 and ADAMTS5. In addition, miR‑29a demonstrated low temperature sensitivity and high freeze‑thaw stability, and may be used to accurately diagnose LSS. Therefore, miR‑29a may be considered to be a potential biomarker of LSS.