Pilot study reveals circulating microrna and cytokine associations in tick-borne encephalitis, suggesting potential diagnostic implications.
Key Points
The study aims to identify the circulating miRNA and cytokine profiles in various forms of tick-borne encephalitis (TBE) and analyze their correlations.
Included patients with febrile, meningeal, and encephalitic forms of TBE, inflammatory rheumatic diseases, and healthy donors.
Plasma miRNA levels measured using stem-loop real-time RT-PCR with eight specific miRNAs analyzed.
Cytokine levels measured by ELISA for several pro-inflammatory markers. Correlation analysis was performed using Kendall’s rank correlation test.
Distinct miRNA signatures are observed in TBE (↑miR-25-3p, ↑miR-146b-5p, ↑miR-766-3p, ↓miR-29a-3p).
TNF-α levels positively correlate with miR-146b-5p and negatively with miR-25-3p, while IL-2 positively correlates with miR-25-3p.
The findings indicate different immune regulation mechanisms in TBE compared to inflammatory rheumatic diseases.