Background: Type 1 diabetes (T1D) is caused by cell-mediated autoimmune attack on pancreatic beta-cells. Previous studies highlight the role of microRNAs (miRNAs) in the pathogenesis of T1D. MiRNAs are small non-coding RNAs involved in the regulation of gene expression post-transcriptionally. In this work, miR-18b was chosen and the differential expression of it was measured between T1D patients and healthy controls from Isfahan population.

Materials and Methods: MiR-18b was selected using Bioinformatics studies by miRWalk software. 22 T1D patients and 18 healthy controls from Isfahan population were enrolled in this study. Total RNA of the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) samples were extracted. After cDNA synthesis, the expression profile of miR-18b quantified by means of qPCR method in patients and controls. Finally the results were statistically analyzed.

Results: In this study despite our hypothesis, the expression levels of miR-18b didn’t show any significant difference between T1D patients and healthy controls (p value: 0.145).

Conclusion: Due to the results of our experimental analysis, it seems that miR-18b doesn’t have any association with T1D disease in Isfahan population.