Study of the role of microRNAs 16 and 135a in patients with lifelong premature ejaculation receiving fluoxetine daily for 3 months: A prospective case control study

We aimed to determine the level of miRNAs 16 and 135a in lifelong premature ejaculation (LPE) patients versus controls. Moreover, we evaluated the potential interplay between the studied miRNAs and fluoxetine in these patients after utilizing fluoxetine daily for 3 months. The study involved 60 consecutive LPE patients and 20 healthy age matched individuals as controls. The median miRNA16 was significantly higher in the controls (1.02) compared to the patients (0.31) (p < 0.001). Moreover, the median miRNA-135a was significantly higher in the controls compared to the patients 1.02 and 0.35, p < 0.001, respectively. In addition, the median pre-treatment miRNA16 in the responders was 0.29 that significantly increased to 0.66 (p < 0.001). The median pre-treatment miRNA-135a in the responders was 0.27 that significantly increased to 0.65 (p < 0.001). Furthermore, considering EXP(β) for the odds ratio evaluation, with a 95% degree of confidence, a 1 fold increase in pre-treatment miRNA 135a fold change decreases the odds for being responsive to SSRI by 0.028. Meanwhile, there was non-significant association between fluoxetine responsiveness and age, pre-treatment miRNA 16, pre-treatment PEDT and pre-treatment IELT. The current study had shown that a lower pre-treatment miRNA 135a was significantly associated with response to fluoxetine.