Dysregulated microRNA Expression in Serum of Non-Vaccinated Children with Varicella
Yuhua Qi,
Zheng Zhu,
Zhiyang Shi,
Yiyue Ge,
Kangchen Zhao,
Minghao Zhou,
Lunbiao Cui
Affiliations
Yuhua Qi
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Zheng Zhu
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Zhiyang Shi
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Yiyue Ge
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Kangchen Zhao
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Minghao Zhou
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Lunbiao Cui
Key Laboratory of Enteric Pathogenic Microbiology, Ministry of Health, Institute of Pathogenic Microbiology, Jiangsu Provincial Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 172 Jiangsu Rd, Nanjing 210009, China
Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) may play an important role in pathogen-host interactions and can serve as molecular markers for the detection of infectious diseases. To date, the relationship between circulating miRNAs and varicella-zoster virus (VZV) caused varicella has not been reported. Using TaqMan Low-Density Array (TLDA) analysis, expression levels of miRNAs in serum samples from 29 patients with varicella and 60 patients with Bordetella pertussis (BP), measles virus (MEV) and enterovirus (EV) were analyzed. The array results showed that 247 miRNAs were differentially expressed in sera of the varicella patients compared with healthy controls (215 up-regulated and 32 down-regulated). Through the following qRT-PCR confirmation and receiver operational characteristic (ROC) curve analysis, five miRNAs (miR-197, miR-629, miR-363, miR-132 and miR-122) were shown to distinguish varicella patients from healthy controls and other microbial infections with moderate sensitivity and specificity. A number of significantly enriched pathways regulated by these circulating miRNAs were predicted, and some of them were involved in inflammatory response, nervous system and respiratory system development. Our results, for the first time, revealed that a number of miRNAs were differentially expressed during VZV infection, and these five serum miRNAs have great potential to serve as biomarkers for the diagnosis of VZV infection in varicella patients.