{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,25]],"date-time":"2025-12-25T05:21:29Z","timestamp":1766640089653,"version":"3.48.0"},"reference-count":23,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,23]],"date-time":"2025-12-23T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1766448000000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009086","name":"Medical University Sofia","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["4439\/05.07.2022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["4439\/05.07.2022"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009086","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]},{"DOI":"10.13039\/100009086","name":"Medical University Sofia","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","award":["324\/2022"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["324\/2022"]}],"id":[{"id":"10.13039\/100009086","id-type":"DOI","asserted-by":"crossref"}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Metabolites"],"abstract":"<jats:p>Background\/Objectives: Diabetic neuropathy (DN) is one of the most common complications of type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM), involving complex metabolic, vascular, and epigenetic mechanisms. MicroRNA-210-3p (miR-210-3p), a hypoxia-responsive molecule, has been implicated in various diabetic complications, but its role in DN is not well defined. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between miR-210-3p expression, measured as delta Ct (\u0394Ct), and the presence and type of diabetic neuropathy, as well as correlations with corneal nerve parameters assessed by corneal confocal microscopy (CCM). Methods: Eighty patients with T2DM were stratified into four groups: no neuropathy, autonomic neuropathy, peripheral neuropathy, and combined neuropathy. Expression of miR-210-3p was quantified using RT-qPCR, and CCM was used to measure corneal nerve fiber density (CNFD), length (CNFL), and branch density (CNBD). Results: \u0394Ct values were significantly lower in patients with combined neuropathy compared to those without neuropathy, indicating higher miR-210-3p expression. Intermediate values were observed in autonomic and peripheral neuropathy groups. CCM parameters were significantly reduced in patients with DN. \u0394Ct was inversely correlated with neuropathy severity but positively associated with diabetes duration. Conclusions: These findings suggest that miR-210-3p may serve as a biomarker of nerve damage and cellular stress in diabetes, and that combining gene expression profiling with CCM could improve DN diagnosis and monitoring.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/metabo16010013","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,23]],"date-time":"2025-12-23T14:05:22Z","timestamp":1766498722000},"page":"13","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":0,"title":["Expression of miR-210-3p as a Prognostic Marker for Development of Diabetic Neuropathy"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Savelia G.","family":"Yordanova","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Diana","family":"Nikolova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Zdravko","family":"Kamenov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Vera","family":"Karamfilova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Traykov","family":"Lachezar","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-6195-7346","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Yavor","family":"Assyov","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-3936-2610","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Tsvetan","family":"Gatev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Radka","family":"Kaneva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Olga","family":"Belcheva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Darina","family":"Kachakova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-2905-8084","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Veronika","family":"Petkova","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Medical Chemistry and Biochemistry, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Yavor","family":"Zhelev","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Neurology, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-8030-4498","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Antoaneta Trifonova","family":"Gateva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Faculty of Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine, 1431 Sofia, Bulgaria"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,23]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","unstructured":"(2025, September 01). 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