miR-155 enhances apoptosis of macrophage through suppressing PI3K-AKT activation in keratitis.

Keratitis induced by (. ) is an acute and serious corneal inflammation. As a family of gene regulators, miRNAs play a crucial role in modulating host response after microbial invasion. However, their functions in . keratitis remain largely unclear. In the present study, we demonstrated that miR-155 expression was significantly increased in macrophages and corneal tissue after . infection. studies demonstrated that mice with miR-155 knockdown displayed more resistance to keratitis, with a lower bacterial burden. In addition, and studies indicated that miR-155 enhanced apoptosis of macrophages after infection, and resulted in a susceptible phenotype of keratitis. Moreover, miR-155 induced apoptosis through reducing activation of PI3K-Akt signaling pathway. Our data provided evidence of miR-155 mediated apoptosis of macrophage in keratitis, which may be an underlying target for the therapy of keratitis and other infectious diseases.