Basic Study
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Clin Pediatr. Sep 9, 2025; 14(3): 103652
Published online Sep 9, 2025. doi: 10.5409/wjcp.v14.i3.103652
MicroRNA-320а as a novel biomarker at preclinical stage of necrotizing enterocolitis in term neonates with congenital heart defects
Ekaterina K Zaikova, Aleksandra V Kaplina, Natalia A Petrova, Tatiana M Pervunina, Alexey S Golovkin, Anna A Kostareva, Olga V Kalinina
Ekaterina K Zaikova, Alexey S Golovkin, Anna A Kostareva, Olga V Kalinina, Institute of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Saint-Petersburg 197341, Russia
Aleksandra V Kaplina, Natalia A Petrova, Research Laboratory of Physiology and Diseases of Newborns, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Saint-Petersburg 197341, Russia
Tatiana M Pervunina, Institute of Perinatology and Pediatrics, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Saint-Petersburg 197341, Russia
Olga V Kalinina, Department of Laboratory Medicine with Clinic, Institution of Medical Education, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Saint-Petersburg 197341, Russia
Olga V Kalinina, Research Laboratory of Molecular Epidemiology and Genetics Evolution, Saint-Petersburg Pasteur Institute, Saint-Petersburg 197021, Russia
Author contributions: Zaikova EK collected the data, performed the experiments, analyzed and interpreted the data, drafted the initial manuscript; Kaplina AV contributed to the data collection process and clinical advice; Petrova NA and Pervunina TM provided clinical advice and conceptualized the study; Golovkin AS participated in data analysis and interpretation; Pervunina TM and Kostareva AA contributed to project administration and funding acquisition; Kalinina OV conceptualized the study, analyzed and interpreted the data, drafted the initial manuscript; all authors contributed to manuscript editing and approved the final version of the manuscript.
Supported by The Russian Science Foundation, No. 19-75-20076.
Institutional review board statement: This study was approved by the local institutional Ethics Committee (protocol No. 1702-21, February 15, 2021) and complied with the Helsinki Declaration.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing interests.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE guidelines.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Olga V Kalinina, PhD, Professor, Department of Laboratory Medicine with Clinic, Institution of Medical Education, Almazov National Medical Research Centre, Akkuratova Street 2, Saint-Petersburg 197341, Russia. olgakalinina@mail.ru
Received: November 26, 2024
Revised: March 6, 2025
Accepted: March 18, 2025
Published online: September 9, 2025
Processing time: 202 Days and 9.6 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: The high morbidity and mortality rates associated with necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) highlight the critical need to identify specific and sensitive biomarkers for early detection and prevention. In this study we evaluated plasma levels of microRNA (miR)-155, miR-221, miR-223, miR-320a, and miR-451a as potential NEC biomarkers in term newborns with congenital heart defects (CHD). For the first time, plasma miR-320a-3p was identified as a predictive biomarker for the risk of NEC in term newborns with CHD at the preclinical stage, and the Hippo signaling pathway may be involved in the early stages of NEC pathogenesis.