Psychosocial stress-associated alterations in microRNAs and their relevance for metabolic diseases: A systematic review.

Background: Psychosocial stress is associated with an increased risk of physical and mental illness. The diverse molecular mechanisms involved in this process are still not fully understood. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) may be involved not only in stress reactivity but also in the development of diseases. This systematic review aims to summarize psychosocial stress-related changes in miRNA expression in humans. Implications for metabolic diseases are investigated in an exploratory manner. Methods: The review was pre-registered at PROSPERO (CRD42024590242). A systematic literature search was conducted in four databases (EBSCO, PSYNDEX, PubMed, Web of Science), to find original peer-reviewed studies that investigate miRNA changes in response to psychosocial stress in adults. Quality was assessed for all included studies. Results: Overall, 12 studies with N = 489 participants were included. The age of participants ranged from 18 to 84 years. Various methodological approaches were used to elicit and assess psychosocial stress, such as laboratory and academic stressors or self-reports. miRNAs were collected from blood, breast milk, and saliva over different time periods. 34 miRNAs were identified as being differentially expressed in response to psychosocial stress. Conclusion: Several miRNAs were altered in response to psychosocial stress in humans. However, most of the identified miRNAs were detected in only one study, and the substantial heterogeneity in study designs poses a challenge for direct comparisons of the results. The investigation of stress-related miRNA changes is promising for future prevention and treatment of diseases and could contribute to a better understanding of miRNA-regulating mechanisms in metabolic diseases.