Importance of miR-UL-148D Expression Pattern in Cytomegalovirus Infected Transplant Patients

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are endogenous, 18-22 nucleotide non-coding RNA molecules. Human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) is a ubiquitous and particular herpes virus that encodes miRNAs, which increases gradually in the presence of infection. One of the important viral miRNAs is HCMV-miRUL-148D, which plays a role in establishing and maintaining viral latency.

The current study aimed to evaluate the expression levels of HCMV-miRUL-148D in active and inactive HCMV infected transplant patient groups compared to healthy individuals.

Total RNA was extracted from blood samples of 60 solid organ transplant patients and 30 healthy controls. In-house SYBR Green Real-Time PCR evaluated the expression levels of studied miRNA and gene.

The expression level of the UL-148D gene was significantly higher in the active HCMV infected patients (p=0.001) compared to other groups. While the miRUL-148D expression level significantly increased in the inactive HCMV-infected patients (p<0.001) compared to other groups.

Increased miRUL-148D expression level in the inactive HCMV-infected transplant patients indicates the potential role of this miRUL-148D as a biomarker of the HCMV latent stage.