Screening of Intestinal Cytokines Differentially Expressed microRNAs in Cryptosporidium parvum-infected Mice

Background: Cryptosporidium (C. parvum) is a kind of the intestinal tract that can cause diarrhea in humans and calves, however, the molecular mechanisms of host-parasite interactions are still poorly understood. Recently, non-coding microRNAs (miRNAs) have been identified as key regulators of host infection with parasites. This study aims to identify MicroRNAs molecules involved in C. parvum infection and immunity and to reveal their molecular mechanisms at the RNA level. This will provide a new idea for revealing the molecular mechanism of the relationship between trace small molecules and pathogenic infections. Methods: It used bioinformatics analysis, qPCR and dual luciferase reporter test to investigate the miRNA expression profile of the posterior intestinal epithelium of Cryptosporidium-infected mice. Result: The present study found that 204 microRNAs had differential expression in mice after infection with C. parvum, with 126 of them up-regulated and 78 of them down-regulated and quantitative real-time PCR validated partially differentially expressed microRNA (mmu-mi R-10, mmu-mi R-196, mmu-miR-27, mmu-miR-146, mmu-miR-145, mmu-mi R-21, let-7i and mmu-mi R-101), which consistented with high-throughput sequencing results. Different microRNAs were implicated in the pathways for Ras signaling, microbial infection, cancer, receptor interaction and the interaction of chemokine and cytokine receptors. By means of dual luciferase, TLR 11 was the target gene identified for miR-196, which indicated that MiR-196 may be involved in the host immune response to C. parvum through regulation of TLR-11. These results provide new insights into the regulatory mechanisms of host miRNAs during C. parvum, which may provide potential targets for future C. parvum control stmiceegies.