A new study published in the Journal of Diabetes Investigation demonstrates that combining high-frequency ultrasound (HF-US) imaging with a blood-based microRNA marker, miR-92a-3p, offers a powerful and noninvasive tool to diagnose diabetic peripheral neuropathy (DPN) and assess its severity in patients with type 2 diabetes (T2DM).

Researchers evaluated 172 participants, including 89 with confirmed DPN and 83 with T2DM but no neuropathy. They used RT-qPCR to quantify serum levels of miR-92a-3p and performed HF-US to measure the cross-sectional areas (CSAs) of the median, ulnar, and tibial nerves.

Both miR-92a-3p and nerve CSAs were significantly elevated in patients with DPN. These two markers were also found to correlate strongly with the Toronto Clinical Scoring System (TCSS), a standard tool for assessing neuropathy severity. Importantly, combining miR-92a-3p with CSA measurements yielded a diagnostic accuracy (AUC) of 0.891, with 80.90% sensitivity and 91.57% specificity for identifying DPN. This combined approach was even more effective in predicting moderate-to-severe DPN, achieving 91.67% sensitivity and 85.37% specificity.