Rational. Epidemiological studies indicate that there may be an association between obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and cardiovascular and metabolic diseases. Some pro-inflammatory miRs (miR-21, miR320) critical for the immune response or hypoxia are often overexpressed in cancers and atherosclerosis. Aim. To examine the expression of miR-21& miR320 in circulating exosomes from patients with OSA. Methods: From a Sleep Unit and in the frame of a long-term longitudinal cohort study we selected 65 non-smokers OSA patients (apnea-hypopnea index -AHI- 30 events/ti) and 26 age, gender and BMI-matched controls (AHI 0.85 mm. Plasma-derived exosomes were isolated by precipitation using miRCURY, , , Exosome Isolation Kit. Exosomes were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, dynamic light scattering assay and Western Blot analysis using CD63 and HSP70. Exosome total RNA was obtained using miRCURY"* RNA isolation kit. miR-21 -5p and miR-320-3p were analysed by real time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) using miRCURY LNA~ technology..
