Leishmania donovani infection induce differential miRNA expression in CD4+ T cells

Sci Rep. 2020 Feb 26;10(1):3523. doi: 10.1038/s41598-020-60435-2.

Abstract

Visceral leishmaniasis is characterized by mixed production of Th1/2 cytokines and the disease is established by an enhanced level of Th2 cytokine. CD4+ T cells are main cell type which produces Th1/2 cytokine in the host upon Leishmania infection. However, the regulatory mechanism for Th1/2 production is not well understood. In this study, we co-cultured mice CD4+ T cells with Leishmania donovani infected and uninfected macrophage for the identification of dysregulated miRNAs in CD4+ T cells by next-generation sequencing. Here, we identified 604 and 613 known miRNAs in CD4+ T cells in control and infected samples respectively and a total of only 503 miRNAs were common in both groups. The expression analysis revealed that 112 miRNAs were up and 96 were down-regulated in infected groups, compared to uninfected control. Nineteen up-regulated and 17 down-regulated miRNAs were statistically significant (p < 0.05), which were validated by qPCR. Further, using insilco approach, we identified the gene targets of significant miRNAs on the basis of CD4+ T cell biology. Eleven up-regulated miRNAs and 9 down-regulated miRNAs were associated with the cellular immune responses and Th1/2 dichotomy upon Leishmania donovani infection. The up-regulated miRNAs targeted transcription factors that promote differentiation of CD4+ T cells towards Th1 phenotype. While down-regulated miRNAs targeted the transcription factors that facilitate differentiation of CD4+ T cells towards Th2 populations. The GO and pathway enrichment analysis also showed that the identified miRNAs target the pathway and genes related to CD4+ T cell biology which plays important role in Leishmania donovani infection.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Female
  • Gene Expression Regulation / immunology*
  • Leishmania donovani / immunology*
  • Leishmaniasis, Visceral / immunology*
  • Mice
  • Mice, Inbred BALB C
  • MicroRNAs / immunology*
  • Th1 Cells / immunology*
  • Th2 Cells / immunology*

Substances

  • MicroRNAs