Profiling of miRNAs in Mouse Peritoneal Macrophages Responding to Infection.

Alveolar echinococcosis (AE) is a zoonotic helminthic disease caused by infection with the larval of in human and animals. Here, we compared miRNA profiles of the peritoneal macrophages of -infected and un-infected female BALB/c mice using high-throughput sequencing. A total of 87 known miRNAs were differentially expressed (fold change ≥ 2, < 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 -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 ( < 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 ( < 0.05). Moreover, mmu-miR-155-5p mimics suppressed mRNA expression and promoted and mRNA expression. Luciferase assays showed that mmu-miR-155-5p was able to bind to the 3' UTR of the gene and decreased luciferase activity. Finally, we found the expression of was significantly downregulated in both macrophages transfected with mmu-miR-155-5p and macrophages isolated from -infected mice. These results demonstrate an immunoregulatory effect of mmu-miR-155 on macrophages, suggesting a role in regulation of host immune responses against infection.