ISSN: 2471-9315
Alireza Khosravi and Farrokh Asadi
University of Tehran, Iran
Rush University, USA
Posters & Accepted Abstracts: Appli Micro Open Access
Aspergillus fumigatus is one of the most ubiquitous medically important opportunistic molds. This fungus is able to induce allergy and invasive disease in exact conditions. Airway epithelial cells are routinely in contact with inhaled Aspergillus conidia. MicroRNAs are a class of gene regulators which bind to the 3' non translated regions of target mRNAs. Several miRNAs have been implicated in epithelial cell differentiation and function in lung diseases. In the present study 5 groups of BALB/c mice were infected with different concentrations of live conidia to induce invasive pulmonary aspergillosis. Seven days after the last experiment, mice were euthanized. Total RNA was isolated from lung epithelial cells. Real time PCR and microRNA array analysis were carried out. A total of 214 miRNAs were detected and 43 miRNAs were altered in infected mice in comparison with non-infected mice. In the infected animals miR-21, miR-29, miR-146a and miR-1947 had the largest hold increase whereas, miR-155, miR-29 and miR-30c-5p significantly decreased. Our results showed that in invasive pulmonary aspergillosis, miRNA expressions are significantly altered. In order to assess the potential role of the altered miRNAs in clinical signs and lung immune epithelial cells further studies are needed.
Email: khosravi@ut.ac.ir