Browsing by Author "Caselli, Elisabetta"

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    Circulating miRNAs Expression in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
    (2023-07) Soffritti, Irene; Gravelsina, Sabine; D’Accolti, Maria; Bini, Francesca; Mazziga, Eleonora; Vilmane, Anda; Rasa-Dzelzkaleja, Santa; Nora-Krukle, Zaiga; Krumina, Angelika; Murovska, Modra; Caselli, Elisabetta; Institute of Microbiology and Virology; Department of Infectology
    Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex multifactorial disease that causes increasing morbidity worldwide, and many individuals with ME/CFS symptoms remain undiagnosed due to the lack of diagnostic biomarkers. Its etiology is still unknown, but increasing evidence supports a role of herpesviruses (including HHV-6A and HHV-6B) as potential triggers. Interestingly, the infection by these viruses has been reported to impact the expression of microRNAs (miRNAs), short non-coding RNA sequences which have been suggested to be epigenetic factors modulating ME/CFS pathogenic mechanisms. Notably, the presence of circulating miRNAs in plasma has raised the possibility to use them as valuable biomarkers for distinguishing ME/CFS patients from healthy controls. Thus, this study aimed at determining the role of eight miRNAs, which were selected for their previous association with ME/CFS, as potential circulating biomarkers of the disease. Their presence was quantitatively evaluated in plasma from 40 ME/CFS patients and 20 healthy controls by specific Taqman assays, and the results showed that six out of the eight of the selected miRNAs were differently expressed in patients compared to controls; more specifically, five miRNAs were significantly upregulated (miR-127-3p, miR-142-5p, miR-143-3p, miR-150-5p, and miR-448), and one was downmodulated (miR-140-5p). MiRNA levels directly correlated with disease severity, whereas no significant correlations were observed with the plasma levels of seven pro-inflammatory cytokines or with the presence/load of HHV-6A/6B genome, as judged by specific PCR amplification. The results may open the way for further validation of miRNAs as new potential biomarkers in ME/CFS and increase the knowledge of the complex pathways involved in the ME/CFS development.
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    Prevalence of KIR2DL2/DS2 and KIR2DL3 and presence of B19V in patients with thyroid disorders
    (2021-02-01) Grāvelsiņa, Sabīne; Caselli, Elisabetta; Nora-Krūkle, Zaiga; Svirskis, Simons; Vilmane, Anda; Di Luca, Dario; Murovska, Modra; Institute of Microbiology and Virology
    The functions of human natural killer cells are controlled by diverse families of antigen receptors. Prominent among these are the killer cell immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR), controlled by a family of genes clustered in one of the most variable regions of the human genome — on chromosome 19q13.4. This study aimed to investigate the possible interplay between KIR allotype, B19 infection, and thyroid disorders. Thyroid gland tissue of 30 patients with autoimmune thyroid gland diseases (AITD), 30 patients with non-autoimmune thyroid gland diseases (non-AITD) and 30 deceased subjects whose histories did not show any of autoimmune or thyroid diseases (control group) were enrolled in the study. The presence of B19V, KIR2DL2/DS2, and KIR2DL3 was detected using PCRs (nPCR, PCR). The results showed that 28% of samples of thyroid tissue from patients with AITD and 67% with non-AITD were positive for the presence of B19V, in contrast only 5% control tissue samples harbored B19V DNA. B19V-positive AITD patients had higher frequency of KIR2DL2/DS2 homozygosity and lower frequency of homozygous KIR2DL3 genotype compared to B19V negative cases (33% vs 21% and 17% vs 46%, respectively). Although our data showed that B19V positive patients with AITD had a higher frequency of homozygosity for KIR2DL2/DS2, further studies with larger groups of patients are necessary to confirm the relationship between KIR, B19V and susceptibility to thyroid disease.