Earlier studies have reported that miRNA expression is important in both adipose tissue development and metabolism [16], [17], [18], [19], [48]. In this study we have profiled global miRNA expression in two body fat depots and investigated whether miRNAs contribute to the overall molecular phenotype in gluteal and abdominal adipose deposits. Our analysis detected significant differential miRNA expression between these two fat depots. Interestingly, a proportion of the miRNAs found to be significantly differentially expressed in our study, had previously been reported to play a role in adiposity, adipocyte development/differentiation and other metabolic disturbances; further highlighting their importance (Table S1) [12], [13], [21], [22], [23], [24], [25], [26], [27], [28], [29], [30], [31], [32]. Our analysis also revealed three miRNAs (hsa-miR-652, hsa-miR-1179, hsa-miR-7-2*) differentially expressed between control and metabolic syndrome groups in abdominal adipose tissue. Hsa-miR-652 has only three conserved mRNA targets included in the Target Scan database: ISL1, ACVR2B and PSKH1. ISL1 is a transcription factor of the LIM/homeodomain family, involved in regulating expression of the insulin gene in islet cells [49] and previously noted to be differentially expressed
