To investigate the relationship between folic acid intake and serum level of miR-150-5p in elderly patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis.

From January 2020 to January 2021, 28 elderly patients undergoing maintenance hemodialysis in the Beijing Friendship Hospital Medical Care Center were divided into a treatment group (n=12) with folic acid therapy and a control group (n=16) without folic acid therapy. The baseline data, serum folic acid and tumor markers were compared. Real-time PCR was used to analyze the serum level of miR-150-5p. The correlation among the folic acid, miR-150-5p, and tumor markers was analyzed. Bioinformatics and KEGG model were used to analyze potential regulatory pathways of miR-150-5p.

Compared with the control group, the treatment group showed higher serum level of folic acid, but lower serum levels of CEA, CA125, and miR-150-5p (P<0.01). In comparison with those before the treatment, folic acid level was significantly increased after treatment (P<0.001), while miR-150-5p was significantly down-regulated (P<0.05). Pearson correlation analysis showed that serum folic acid level was negatively correlated with the serum level of miR-150-5p (P<0.05), and bioinformatics analysis suggested that most of the downstream target genes of miR-150-5p were involved in tumor signaling pathways.

After receiving the folic acid therapy, the elderly patients with maintenance hemodialysis had lower serum levels of miR-150-5p and CEA decreased. The serum level of folic acid was negatively correlated with miR-150-5p, while the downstream target genes of miR-150-5p were mostly involved in tumor signaling pathways, suggesting that regulating miR-150-5p expression through folic acid might have a role to affect the occurrence and development of tumors.