The current literatures available only focused on the finding specific miRNAs and the etermination of the role of the specific miRNAs in the disk degeneration. The ultimate goal in each study was to find novel diagnostic or therapeutic agent for the treatment of IDD. The potential of miRNAs as bio markers was not discussed in majority of the papers. The investigation into the circulating miRNAs are not widely conducted and there is a lack of reports regarding this topic. There is also no study that correlates miRNAs from disk with serum miRNAs. The, establishment of a miRNA expression profile and inflammatory markers in serum is important for investigating the underlying functional mechanisms for IDD, and a better knowledge of their expression patterns could reveal molecular signatures that can be developed as therapeutic and diagnostic targets as well. There is also the problem that the miRNAs are multifunctional. They not only regulate IDD but also inflammatory responses, cancer and so on. Hence, it is imperative that we find multiple specific miRNAs and the relationship between inflammatory mediators and grade of degradation in order to develop biomarker for the early detection of IDD.

In this proposed study, we wish to identify altered signature of miRNAs and inflammatory markers during the progression of IDD at different clinical stages as evidence by MRI by using RNA sequencing technique, qRTPCR and ELISA. We will also performed Mass spectrometry based serum proteomics profile of these subjects. Lastly we will correlate between disease severity, miRNA expression and altered proteins between healthy control and IDD subjects. This will lead to identification of IDD stage specific molecular signature which may help in early diagnosis or prediction of the disease and may helpful in selection of treatment strategies. The early detection also helps in successive treatments as the longer the disease is untreated, the worse is the outcome.