High serum miR-183 level is associated with the bioactivity of macrophage derived from tuberculosis patients

Abstract

As a major health threat, tuberculosis (TB) is resistant against the current therapeutic strategies. Increasing evidence indicates that miRNAs are implicated in various disorders by affecting specific target genes. Recently, the association of miRNAs with TB has also been established by several studies, and their potentials in the prognosis and treatment of TB have also been verified. miR-183 is shown to promote the activation of macrophage through NF-κB pathway. However, it is still unclear if serum miR-183 can be used to assess the activity of TB-associated macrophage. This study was aimed to address this issue. We employed qPCR assay to detect the expression level of miR-183 in blood from TB patients and healthy individuals. miR-183 abundance was found to be increased in serum samples from TB patients, compared with healthy controls. Further analysis revealed that miR-183 level is positively associated with the activity of macrophages from TB patients, evidenced by their increased phagocytosis rates and enzyme activity in high serum miR-183 group. In conclusions, high level of serum miR-183 is associated with the activity of macrophage originating from TB patients.

Keywords: Tuberculosis; macrophage; miR-183.

Figure 1

Serum miR-183 level is higher in TB patient than healthy individuals. A. qPCR assay was used to evaluate the levels of miR-183 from the blood samples of TB patients (n = 110) and healthy volunteers (n = 48). The relative value of each sample was shown as a dot. The lines represented the average of TB patients and healthy controls (HR). The difference between RCC and HR was analyzed using students’ tests.

Figure 2

Serum miR-183 level was positively correlated with the phagocytosis of TB-related macrophages. The phagocytosis rates of primary macrophages (n = 73), which were derived from TB patients, were determined by phagocytosis assays after co-culturing with chicken red blood cells. The dots indicated means of three independent experiments. The association between miR-183 level and phagocytosis rates was calculated with Pearson analysis.

Figure 3

Serum miR-183 level was positively correlated with the activities of acid phosphatase and lysozyme in TB-related macrophages. The activities of acid phosphatase (A) and lysozyme (B) in primary macrophages (n = 73), which were derived from TB patients, were determined using Acid Phosphatase Assay Kit and Lysozyme Assay Kit, respectively. The dots indicated means of three independent experiments. The association between miR-183 level and enzyme activities was calculated with Pearson analysis.