Mirabedini Zahra, Mohebali Mehdi, Mirjalali Hamed, Hajjaran Homa, Goudarzi Fatemeh, Rahimi Hanieh Mohammad
Department of Medical Parasitology and Mycology, School of Public Health, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Center for Research of Endemic Parasites of Iran (CREPI), Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
BMC Microbiol. 2025 Apr 2;25(1):187. doi: 10.1186/s12866-025-03901-z.
Leishmaniasis is a disease caused by the Leishmania parasite. Recent studies suggest a critical role for double-stranded RNA virus (LRV) in the disease outcome. MicroRNAs (miRs) are small, non-coding RNA molecules that may also contribute to the outcome of infection and the pattern of disease. This study aimed to investigate the influence of L. major infected with LRV2 + on the expression profile of microRNAs compared to LRV2-.
Samples were collected from cutaneous leishmaniasis (CL) patients in a leishmaniasis-endemic area of Iran. Leishmania species were determined using PCR (kDNA gene), and the presence of LRV2 was identified with semi-nested PCR (RdRp gene). The expression of miRs (miR-155, miR-146b, and miR-133a) was determined through quantitative real-time PCR analysis in human monocytes cell line (THP-1) infected with both LRV2 + and LRV2- isolates of L. major during 0, 12, 24, and 36 h post-co-infection.
The expression of miR-155 showed a significant decrease in the LRV2 + isolate compared to LRV2- at zero hours, but exhibited upregulation at 12, 24, and 36 h post-infection for both LRV2 + and LRV2- isolates compared to the control group. The expression of miR-146b was upregulated in both LRV2 + and LRV2- isolates compared to the control group at zero, 24, and 36 h post-infection. Conversely, miR-133a showed significant increases at zero and 12 h in both LRV2 + and LRV2- isolates compared to the control group, but it was downregulated in LRV2 + at 24 and 36 h compared to LRV2-.
In this study, significant differences were observed in the expression profiles of miR-155, miR-146b, and miR-133a about the presence of LRV2. Our data suggest a potential determinative role for these miRs in the pathogenesis of CL.
利什曼病是由利什曼原虫寄生虫引起的疾病。最近的研究表明双链RNA病毒（LRV）在疾病转归中起关键作用。微小RNA（miR）是小的非编码RNA分子，也可能对感染结果和疾病模式有影响。本研究旨在调查感染LRV2+的硕大利什曼原虫与LRV2-相比对微小RNA表达谱的影响。
从伊朗利什曼病流行地区的皮肤利什曼病（CL）患者中采集样本。使用PCR（kDNA基因）确定利什曼原虫种类，并用半巢式PCR（RdRp基因）鉴定LRV2的存在。通过定量实时PCR分析在共感染后0、12、24和36小时感染LRV2+和LRV2-硕大利什曼原虫分离株的人单核细胞系（THP-1）中miR（miR-155、miR-146b和miR-133a）的表达。
与LRV2-相比，miR-155在0小时时LRV2+分离株中的表达显著降低，但与对照组相比，LRV2+和LRV2-分离株在感染后12、24和36小时均表现出上调。与对照组相比，miR-146b在感染后0、24和36小时的LRV2+和LRV2-分离株中均上调。相反，与对照组相比，miR-133a在LRV2+和LRV2-分离株的0和12小时均显著增加，但与LRV2-相比，LRV2+在24和36小时下调。
在本研究中，观察到miR-155、miR-146b和miR-133a的表达谱因LRV2的存在而存在显著差异。我们的数据表明这些miR在CL发病机制中具有潜在的决定性作用。
