Vocational School of Health Services, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Pharmacy, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey.
Parasitol Res. 2022 Jan;121(1):191-196. doi: 10.1007/s00436-021-07382-7. Epub 2021 Nov 23.
Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is a neglected zoonotic disease caused by the metacestode form of Echinococcus granulosus sensu lato. Non-invasive imaging techniques, especially ultrasound, are primarily used for CE diagnosis. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNA molecules that act as post-transcriptional regulators in various biological processes. After identification of parasite-derived miRNAs, these miRNAs are considered to be potential biomarkers for diagnosis and follow-up. The focus of this research is to compare the expression profiles of certain parasite-derived miRNAs in CE patients with active and inactive cysts as well as healthy controls. Parasite-derived miRNAs, egr-let-7-5p, egr-miR-71a-5p, and egr-miR-9-5p, of inactive CE patients were found to be differentially expressed with 3.74-, 2.72-, and 20.78-fold change (p < 0.05), respectively, when compared with active CE patients. In this study, we evaluated for the first time the expression profile of three parasite-derived miRNAs in the serum of CE patients to determine their potential to distinguish between active and inactive CE. It was concluded that serum levels of parasite-derived miRNAs, egr-let-7-5p and egr-miR-9-5p, could be promising new potential biomarkers for stage-specific diagnosis of CE. Further studies are needed with larger sample set to validate discriminating potential of these miRNAs.
囊性包虫病（CE）是一种被忽视的人畜共患疾病，由细粒棘球绦虫的中绦期引起。非侵入性成像技术，特别是超声，主要用于 CE 的诊断。微小 RNA（miRNA）是一种小的非编码 RNA 分子，在各种生物过程中作为转录后调节剂发挥作用。在鉴定寄生虫衍生的 miRNA 后，这些 miRNA 被认为是诊断和随访的潜在生物标志物。本研究的重点是比较活性和非活性囊肿以及健康对照患者中寄生虫衍生 miRNA 的表达谱。与活动型 CE 患者相比，非活动型 CE 患者的寄生虫衍生 miRNA，egr-let-7-5p、egr-miR-71a-5p 和 egr-miR-9-5p 的表达分别有 3.74 倍、2.72 倍和 20.78 倍的差异（p<0.05）。在这项研究中，我们首次评估了三种寄生虫衍生 miRNA 在 CE 患者血清中的表达谱，以确定它们在区分活动型和非活动型 CE 方面的潜力。研究得出结论，血清中寄生虫衍生 miRNA（egr-let-7-5p 和 egr-miR-9-5p）的水平可能是 CE 分期特异性诊断的有前途的新型潜在生物标志物。需要进一步研究，以更大的样本量验证这些 miRNA 的区分潜力。
