AUTHOR=Guo Xiaola , Zheng Yadong 

TITLE=Profiling of miRNAs in Mouse Peritoneal Macrophages Responding to Echinococcus multilocularis Infection

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology

VOLUME=10

YEAR=2020

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/cellular-and-infection-microbiology/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2020.00132

DOI=10.3389/fcimb.2020.00132

ISSN=2235-2988

ABSTRACT=<p>Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a zoonotic helminthic disease caused by infection with the larval of <italic>Echinococcus multilocularis</italic> in human and animals. Here, we compared miRNA profiles of the peritoneal macrophages of <italic>E. multilocularis</italic>-infected and un-infected female BALB/c mice using high-throughput sequencing. A total of 87 known miRNAs were differentially expressed (fold change ≥ 2, <italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05) in peritoneal macrophages in mice 30- and 90-day post infection compared with ones in un-infected mice. An increase of mmu-miR-155-5p expression was observed in peritoneal macrophages in <italic>E. multilocularis</italic>-infected mice. Compared with the control group, the production of nitric oxide (NO) was increased in peritoneal macrophages transfected with mmu-miR-155-5p mimics at 12 h after transfection (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.001). Two key genes (CD14 and NF-κB) in the LPS/TLR4 signaling pathway were also markedly altered in mmu-miR-155-5p mimics transfected cells (<italic>p</italic> &lt; 0.05). Moreover, mmu-miR-155-5p mimics suppressed <italic>IL6</italic> mRNA expression and promoted <italic>IL12a</italic> and <italic>IL12b</italic> mRNA expression. Luciferase assays showed that mmu-miR-155-5p was able to bind to the 3′ UTR of the <italic>IKBKE</italic> gene and decreased luciferase activity. Finally, we found the expression of <italic>IKBKE</italic> was significantly downregulated in both macrophages transfected with mmu-miR-155-5p and macrophages isolated from <italic>E. multilocularis</italic>-infected mice. These results demonstrate an immunoregulatory effect of mmu-miR-155 on macrophages, suggesting a role in regulation of host immune responses against <italic>E. multilocularis</italic> infection.</p>