Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul University, İstanbul, Turkey
Department of Medical Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, İstanbul Yeni Yüzyıl University, İstanbul, Turkey
Turk J Med Sci. 2021 Aug 30;51(4):1894-1904. doi: 10.3906/sag-2004-307.
BACKGROUND/AIM: Tuberculosis is a public health problem that still remains significant. For prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of tuberculosis more effective novel biomarkers are needed. MicroRNAs can regulate innate and adaptive immune responses, alter host-pathogen interactions, and affect progression of diseases. The relationship between microRNA expression and active pulmonary tuberculosis (APT) has not yet been investigated in the Turkish population. We aimed to test the potential diagnostic value of some microRNAs whose levels were previously reported to be altered in APT patients.
Using two different references (U6 and miR-93), we compared the expression levels of potentially important microRNAs in serum of APT patients with healthy individuals using quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR).
miR-144 expression level was down-regulated in APT patients when either U6 or miR-93 was used for normalization. When data was normalized with miR-93, a statistically significant decrease in miR-125b (0.8 fold) and miR-146a (0.7 fold) expression levels were observed, while no differences were detected for U6. The receiver operating characteristic suggested that miR-144 may be a candidate biomarker for discriminating APT patients and controls (p < 0.05) both for U6 and miR-93.
These findings suggest that miR-144 can have potential as a biomarker for APT. Using a single reference may be misleading in evaluation of microRNA expression. U6 and miR-93 can be used in combination as references for normalization of serum microRNA expression data.
背景/目的：结核病仍是一个严重的公共卫生问题。为了预防、诊断和治疗结核病，需要更有效的新型生物标志物。微小 RNA 可以调节先天和适应性免疫反应，改变宿主-病原体相互作用，并影响疾病的进展。微小 RNA 表达与土耳其人群活动性肺结核（APT）之间的关系尚未得到研究。我们旨在测试一些微小 RNA 的潜在诊断价值，这些微小 RNA 的水平以前在 APT 患者中被报道发生改变。
使用两种不同的参考（U6 和 miR-93），我们使用定量聚合酶链反应（qPCR）比较了 APT 患者和健康个体血清中潜在重要微小 RNA 的表达水平。
当使用 U6 或 miR-93 进行归一化时，APT 患者的 miR-144 表达水平下调。当用 miR-93 进行归一化时，miR-125b（0.8 倍）和 miR-146a（0.7 倍）的表达水平显著下降，而 U6 则没有差异。接受者操作特征表明，miR-144 可能是区分 APT 患者和对照组的候选生物标志物（p < 0.05），无论是使用 U6 还是 miR-93。
这些发现表明，miR-144 可能是 APT 的潜在生物标志物。使用单一参考可能会在评估微小 RNA 表达时产生误导。U6 和 miR-93 可以联合用作血清微小 RNA 表达数据归一化的参考。
