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Comparative analysis of microRNA expression in serum-derived extracellular vesicles from sudden infant death syndrome cases
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  • Published: 10 February 2026

Comparative analysis of microRNA expression in serum-derived extracellular vesicles from sudden infant death syndrome cases

  • Sanae Kanno  ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0001-6415-77771,
  • Mamiko Fukuta1,2,
  • Hideaki Kato1,
  • Jun Monma-Otaki1,
  • Yoshimi Nakamura1 &
  • …
  • Toru Oshima1 

Scientific Reports , Article number:  (2026) Cite this article

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We are providing an unedited version of this manuscript to give early access to its findings. Before final publication, the manuscript will undergo further editing. Please note there may be errors present which affect the content, and all legal disclaimers apply.

Subjects

  • Biomarkers
  • Cardiology
  • Computational biology and bioinformatics
  • Diseases
  • Genetics
  • Medical research
  • Molecular biology

Abstract

Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) remains one of the most common and poorly understood diagnoses of death in infants. In this study, we searched for novel biomarkers to aid in elucidating the pathogenesis of SIDS through a bioinformatics analysis of serum-derived extracellular vesicle (EV) miRNAs using next-generation sequencing. Comparative analyses between infants who died of SIDS and those who died from known causes showed that 15 and 38 miRNAs were significantly up- or down-regulated more than twofold in SIDS, respectively. Myocardial-specific miRNAs, such as miR-1, miR-208, and miR-499, which are known to leak from injured heart, were up-regulated markedly in SIDS EVs. Gene target prediction analyses suggested that the MAP signaling pathway, cardiomyocytes, and cardiac ion channels are involved in the pathogenesis of SIDS. Gene ontology analyses revealed that protein phosphorylation, the actin cytoskeleton and myosin complex, and kinase activity are heavily involved in SIDS. Our results indicate that EV myocardial-specific miRNAs are released into the blood from the heart in SIDS, suggesting the pathogenesis of SIDS is associated with cardiac injury. Studies of EV miRNAs using minimally invasive fluid samples could lead to the discovery of new diagnostic markers for SIDS.

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Data availability

The data have been deposited with links to BioProject accession number PRJDB37850 in the DDBJ BioProject database.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Research from Nagoya City University (grant number 2412004). We acknowledge the assistance of the Research Equipment Sharing Center at Nagoya City University. This work was the result of using research equipment shared with the MEXT Project for Promoting Public Utilization of Advanced Research Infrastructure (Program for Supporting Construction of Core Facilities), grant number JPMXS0441500025. We would also like to thank Dr. Hiroshi Takase of the Research Equipment Sharing Center of Nagoya City University for assistance with scanning electron microscopy observations.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Forensic Medicine, Nagoya City University Graduate School of Medical Sciences, 1 Kawasumi, Mizuho-cho, Mizuho-ku, Nagoya, 467-8601, Japan

    Sanae Kanno, Mamiko Fukuta, Hideaki Kato, Jun Monma-Otaki, Yoshimi Nakamura & Toru Oshima

  2. Department of Legal Medicine, Aichi Medical University School of Medicine, Nagoya, Japan

    Mamiko Fukuta

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Contributions

SK: conceived and designed the experiments. SK, MF, JM, YN: performed the experiments and analyzed the data. MF, HK, TO: performed the autopsies and examinations. SK, MF: wrote the manuscript with contributions from co-authors. TO: project administration.

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Correspondence to Sanae Kanno.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

Ethics approval

This study was approved by the Institutional Review Board for the Protection of Human Subjects in Research at Nagoya City University (approval number: 60-24-0135, approval date: Jan. 25, 2022). All the procedures were approved and performed in accordance with the ethical standards laid down in the 1964 Declaration of Helsinki. This study was conducted based on the “Ethical Guidelines for Medical Research Involving Human Subjects (enacted by the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare in Japan).” Information on the implementation of the study was posted on clinical Research Management Center, Nagoya City University Hospital website (https://ncu-cr.jp/patient/clinical_research/clinical_research_cont-2). If bereaved family requested to refuse not be used for research purposes, they were excluded from the study.

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Kanno, S., Fukuta, M., Kato, H. et al. Comparative analysis of microRNA expression in serum-derived extracellular vesicles from sudden infant death syndrome cases. Sci Rep (2026). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38034-4

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  • Received: 27 September 2025

  • Accepted: 28 January 2026

  • Published: 10 February 2026

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-026-38034-4

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Keywords

  • Sudden infant death syndrome
  • Extracellular vesicles
  • MicroRNA
  • Comparative analysis
  • Next-generation sequencing
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