Expression levels of candidate circulating microRNAs in pediatric tuberculosis.

Expression levels of candidate circulating microRNAs in pediatric tuberculosis. Pathog Glob Health. 2020 May 13;:1-9 Authors: M K, S S, S M Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) is a preventable and curable disease, but increased mortality and morbidity associated with TB is one of the leading causes of deaths worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs known to regulate the host immune response against TB. We investigated the expression profile of candidate circulating miRNAs, which could be used as a blood biomarker for the effective diagnosis of pediatric tuberculosis. A cross-sectional comparative study was conducted, including 30 children with active-TB and 30 healthy controls (HC) in a tertiary care hospital in Puducherry. We used the SYBR green-based miScript qRT-PCR assay to analyze the expression levels of miRNAs in plasma. Further, we used the receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) to evaluate the diagnostic value of miRNAs. Active-TB included 25 (83.3%) pulmonary TB and 5 (16.7%) extrapulmonary TB cases. We found a significant upregulation of miR-21, miR-29a, miR-31, miR-155, and downregulation of miR-146a in children with active-TB compared to HC. The ROC analysis showed an excellent diagnostic value of miRNAs as follows: miR‑31> miR‑155> miR‑146a with AUC of (95% CI) miRNAs 0.978, 0.953, and 0.903, respectively. Altered circulating miRNA expression levels could be involved in the dysregulation of t...
Source: Pathogens and Global Health - Category: International Medicine & Public Health Tags: Pathog Glob Health Source Type: research