Fromm B, Ovchinnikov V, Høye E, Bernal D, Hackenberg M, Marcilla A
Department of Tumor Biology, Institute for Cancer Research, The Norwegian Radium Hospital, Oslo University Hospital, Nydalen, Oslo, Norway.
Department of Human and Animal Genetics, The Federal Research Center, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, The Siberian Branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Novosibirsk, Russian Federation.
Parasite Immunol. 2017 Feb;39(2). doi: 10.1111/pim.12399.
Liver flukes represent a paraphyletic group of endoparasitic flatworms that significantly affect man either indirectly due to economic damage on livestock or directly as pathogens. A range of studies have focussed on how these macroscopic organisms can evade the immune system and live inside a hostile environment such as the mammalian liver and bile ducts. Recently, microRNAs, a class of short noncoding gene regulators, have been proposed as likely candidates to play roles in this scenario. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are key players in development and pathogenicity and are highly conserved between metazoans: identical miRNAs can be found in flatworms and mammalians. Interestingly, miRNAs are enriched in extracellular vesicles (EVs) which are secreted by most cells. EVs constitute an important mode of parasite/host interaction, and recent data illustrate that miRNAs play a vital part. We have demonstrated the presence of miRNAs in the EVs of the trematode species Dicrocoelium dendriticum and Fasciola hepatica (Fhe) and identified potential immune-regulatory miRNAs with targets in the host. After our initial identification of miRNAs expressed by F. hepatica, an assembled genome and additional miRNA data became available. This has enabled us to update the known complement of miRNAs in EVs and speculate on potential immune-regulatory functions that we review here.
肝吸虫是内寄生扁虫的一个并系类群，它们要么通过对家畜造成经济损害间接影响人类，要么作为病原体直接影响人类。一系列研究聚焦于这些宏观生物如何逃避免疫系统并在诸如哺乳动物肝脏和胆管等恶劣环境中生存。最近，一类短的非编码基因调节因子——微小RNA（microRNA，miRNA），被认为可能在这种情况下发挥作用。miRNA是发育和致病性的关键参与者，并且在后生动物之间高度保守：在扁虫和哺乳动物中可以发现相同的miRNA。有趣的是，miRNA在大多数细胞分泌的细胞外囊泡（EV）中富集。EV构成了寄生虫/宿主相互作用的一种重要方式，并且最近的数据表明miRNA起着至关重要的作用。我们已经证明了在枝双腔吸虫和肝片吸虫（Fhe）的EV中存在miRNA，并鉴定了在宿主中有靶标的潜在免疫调节miRNA。在我们最初鉴定出肝片吸虫表达的miRNA之后，一个组装好的基因组和更多的miRNA数据可用了。这使我们能够更新EV中已知的miRNA互补序列，并推测我们在此处综述的潜在免疫调节功能。
