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Circulatory microRNAs: promising non-invasive prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for parasitic infections

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Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a non-coding subclass of endogenous small regulatory RNAs, with about 18–25 nucleotides length which play a critical role in the regulation of gene expression at the post-transcriptional level in eukaryotes. Aberrant expression of miRNAs has the potential to become powerful non-invasive biomarkers in pathological diagnosis and prognosis of different disorders including infectious diseases. Parasite’s life cycle may require the ability to respond to environmental and developmental signals through miRNA-mediated gene expressions. Over the last years, thousands of miRNAs have been identified in the helminthic and protozoan parasites and many pieces of evidence have demonstrated the functional role of miRNAs in the parasites’ life cycle. Detection of these miRNAs in biofluids of infected hosts as prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers in infectious diseases is growing rapidly. In this review, we have highlighted altered expressions of host miRNAs, detected parasitic miRNAs in the infected hosts, and suggested some perspectives for future studies.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran (Grant number: 6334).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medical Biotechnology, Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Hossein Ghalehnoei

  2. Department of Clinical Biochemistry-Biophysics and Genetics, Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Abouzar Bagheri

  3. Department of Parasitology, Toxoplasmosis Research Center, Faculty of Medicine, Mazandaran University of Medical Sciences, Sari, Iran

    Mahdi Fakhar

  4. Ocular Tissue Engineering Research Center, Student Research Committee, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran

    Mohammad Amir Mishan

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  1. Hossein Ghalehnoei
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  2. Abouzar Bagheri
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  3. Mahdi Fakhar
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  4. Mohammad Amir Mishan
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Correspondence to Abouzar Bagheri or Mahdi Fakhar.

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Ghalehnoei, H., Bagheri, A., Fakhar, M. et al. Circulatory microRNAs: promising non-invasive prognostic and diagnostic biomarkers for parasitic infections. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 39, 395–402 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-019-03715-8

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