Analysis of serum microRNA expression profile in military personnel with positive psychological stress in complex operational environments

CHEN Xiaochu; LI Na; LI Zhengchao; CHEN Shulian; CHEN Xuyi; WANG Zhenguo; SU Bin; YU Mingxuan; WANG Renjie

doi:10.3969/j.issn.1004-3594.2026.06.007

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Medical Journal of the Chinese People Armed Police Forces ›› 2026, Vol. 37 ›› Issue (6) : 497-505. DOI: 10.3969/j.issn.1004-3594.2026.06.007

ORIGINAL ARTICLES

Analysis of serum microRNA expression profile in military personnel with positive psychological stress in complex operational environments

CHEN Xiaochu¹, LI Na², LI Zhengchao³, CHEN Shulian³, CHEN Xuyi³, WANG Zhenguo⁴, SU Bin⁴, YU Mingxuan⁵, WANG Renjie⁵

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Abstract

Objective To investigate the differences in the expression profiles of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the serum of military personnel with positive psychological stress and the potential biomarkers. Methods A total of 100 young military personnel from a complex operational environment were randomly selected as the study subjects. The participants with positive psychological stress were identified using psychological assessments before and after the tasks, and their blood samples were collected accordingly. A total of 32 samples (16 pairs in total, comprising 8 pairs from the psychological stress negative group and 8 pairs from the psychological stress-positive group) were tested using the GeneChip miRNA 4.0 array for the differences in miRNAs expression before and after the tasks. The downstream target genes of the differentially expressed miRNA were screened using miRanda and Targetscan databases. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) was used to analyze the activated signaling pathways in the positive psychological stress group. The miRNAs with the most obvious differences were selected and verified by reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction (RT-qPCR). Results A total of 22 miRNAs with significant differences were detected by gene chip detection. There were four miRNAs with the most obvious differences, among which the down-regulated miRNAs were hsa-miR-619-5p, hsa-miR-195-3p and hsa-miR-3196, and the up-regulated miRNAs was hsa-miR-378h. In addition, 64 019 differentially expressed downstream target genes were discovered. KEGG enrichment analysis showed that the transcription factor BR-related signaling pathway was significantly activated in the positive psychological stress group. RT-qPCR results confirmed the most distinct miRNAs, and the results were consistent with the results of chip detection. Conclusions There are differences in the expression of miRNAs in the serum of military personnel with positive psychological stress, among which hsa-miR-619-5p, hsa-miR-195-3p, hsa-miR-3196 and hsa-miR-378h have high specificity and sensitivity, which may be used as biomarkers for positive psychological stress in military personnel.

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stress positive / miRNA / specificity / biomarker / complex environment

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CHEN Xiaochu, LI Na, LI Zhengchao, CHEN Shulian, CHEN Xuyi, WANG Zhenguo, SU Bin, YU Mingxuan, WANG Renjie. Analysis of serum microRNA expression profile in military personnel with positive psychological stress in complex operational environments[J]. Medical Journal of the Chinese People Armed Police Forces. 2026, 37(6): 497-505 https://doi.org/10.3969/j.issn.1004-3594.2026.06.007

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