BioProject

Objective To identify the value of differentially expressed miRNAs in the diagnosis of Echinococcosis granulosis, the expression profiles of serum miRNAs between Echinococcus granulosus-infected and un-infected sheep were analyzed and the value of differentially expressed miRNAs in diagnosis of Echinococcosis was validated by the real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR (qRT-PCR) technology. Methods Total RNAs were extracted from the sheep sera of Echinococcus granulosus-infected group and uninfected group, and the differentially expressed miRNAs were identified and screened by high-throughput sequencing, and miRNAs with significant differential expressions were selected to be validated by qRT-PCR. The target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs were predicted, and Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) enrichment analysis was performed. Results Twenty-six differentially expressed miRNAs were screened out from the serum of the Echinococcus granulosus infected group and the healthy control group, of which 21 miRNAs were up-regulated and 5 miRNAs were down-regulated. The target genes of some differentially expressed miRNAs may be involved in the regulation of genes related to inflammatory response, autophagy, and apoptosis. The relative expression levels of oar-miR-191 and oar-miR-150 in the serum of the Echinococcus granulosus infected group showed an upward trend compared with the control group and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). The ROC curve analysis showed serum oar-miR-191 yielded an AUC of 0.858 (95CI: 0.719-0.997, P < 0.008), with 71.43% sensitivity and 85.71% specificity. The serum oar-miR-150 yielded an AUC of 0.738 (95CI: 0.550-0.926, P<0.026), with 53.33% sensitivity and 86.67% specificity. Conclusion The existence of numerous differentially expressed miRNAs in the serum from Echinococcus granulosus-infected sheep has revealed by high-throughput sequencing. Through the qRT-PCR detection and ROC curve analysis, it was found that oar-miR-191 showed good sensitivity and specificity in the diagnosis of Echinococcus granulosus infection, which has the potential to be a biomarker for Echinococcosis.