Upregulation of hsa-miR-125b in HTLV-1 asymptomatic carriers and HTLV-1-associated myelopathy/tropical spastic paraparesis patients

• Main Authors: Larissa Deadame de Figueiredo Nicolete, Roberto Nicolete, Rodrigo Haddad, Rochele Azevedo, Fabíola Attié de Castro, Yuetsu Tanaka, Osvaldo Massaiti Takayanagui, Dimas Tadeu Covas, Simone Kashima
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Instituto Oswaldo Cruz, Ministério da Saúde 2012-09-01
• Series: Memórias do Instituto Oswaldo Cruz.
• Subjects: HAM; hsa-miR-125b; upregulation
• Online Access: http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762012000600020&lng=en&tlng=en

The retrovirus human T lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1) promotes spastic paraparesis, adult T cell leukaemia and other diseases. Recently, some human microRNAs (miRNAs) have been described as important factors in host-virus interactions. This study compared miRNA expression in control individuals, asymptomatic HTLV-1 carriers and HTLV-1 associated myelopathy (HAM)/tropical spastic paraparesis patients. The proviral load and Tax protein expression were measured in order to characterize the patients. hsa-miR-125b expression was significantly higher in patients than in controls (p = 0.0285) or in the HAM group (p = 0.0312). Therefore, our findings suggest that miR-125b expression can be used to elucidate the mechanisms of viral replication and pathogenic processes.