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. 2025 Dec 1.
doi: 10.1186/s13071-025-07161-8. Online ahead of print.

Circulating microRNA signatures for echinococcosis

Rui Li #  1   2 , Xuedong He #  2 , Shuangjuan Liu #  3 , Guanghui Zheng  2 , Jing Zhang  4 , Yongjie Kou  2 , Xiaojiao Li  5 , Xiaola Guo  6 , Xiangwen Xu  2 , Qingming Kong  7 , Pengfei Cai  8 , William C Cho  9 , Yadong Zheng  2 , Wenhui Wang  10 , Xueyong Zhang  11 , Houhui Song  12
Affiliations
Free article

Circulating microRNA signatures for echinococcosis

Rui Li et al. Parasit Vectors. .
Free article

Abstract

Background: Echinococcosis, a serious zoonotic parasitic disease caused by tapeworms of the genus Echinococcus, is clinically characterized by a long latent period of up to 10 years. An accurate diagnosis is critical for the efficient management and treatment of patients. The aim of this study was to identify robust diagnostic signatures for echinococcosis.

Methods: Using co-immunoprecipitation and RNA sequencing (RNA-seq), we comparatively profiled the Argonaute 2-binding microRNAs (abmiRNAs) in hepatocytes of Echinococcus multilocularis-infected mice. Using receiver operating characteristic curve (ROC) analysis, we established quantitative PCR (qPCR) assays based on circulating liver-specific abmiRNAs and their combinations, and further validated these assays using blinded serum samples from infected mice and patients.

Results: Three abmiRNAs were identified as being predominantly expressed in the liver: miR-192-5p, miR-122-5p and miR-21a-5p. While these three abmiRNAs are upregulated in liver cancer and hepatitis virus infections, we found that all circulating abmiRNAs were significantly and gradually downregulated as the Emultilocularis infection progressed; however, they were rapidly upregulated following anthelmintic treatment. The qPCR assays targeting these circulating abmiRNAs and their combinations showed high sensitivity and specificity. Individual circulating abmiRNAs and their combinations accurately distinguished infections in both mice (n = 50) and humans (n = 117), with the combination of miR-192-5p and miR-122-5p being particularly effective in distinguishing infections. This combination was also sensitive to anthelmintic treatment.

Conclusions: These results suggest that circulating miR-192-5p and miR-122-5p are serum signatures for the diagnosis and prognostic management of echinococcosis.

Keywords: Echinococcus multilocularis; Diagnostic and prognostic signature; Echinococcosis; MiR-122-5p; MiR-192-5p; MiR-21a-5p.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declarations. Ethics approval and consent to participate: All animal experiments were approved by the Animal Experiment Ethical Committee of Zhejiang A&F University and performed in accordance with the Good Animal Practice Guidelines of Animal Ethics Procedures. The experiments using human serum samples were evaluated and approved by the Research and Ethics Committee of the National Institute of Parasitic Diseases. Written informed consent was obtained from all participants (including consent from all adults and parental consent for all children under 18 years). Consent for publication: Not applicable. Competing interests: The authors declare no competing interests.

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