Exosomal miRNAs and association with pulmonary tuberculosis

<b>Introduction:</b> Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major threat to human health. Due to the limited accuracy of the current TB diagnostic tests, it is critical to determine novel biomarkers for this disease. Circulating exosomes have been used as diagnostic biomarkers in various diseases. <b>Objective of the Study:</b> In this study, we examined the expression of miRNAs as biomarker candidates for the diagnosis of TB infection. <b>Methods:</b> Serum exosomes were isolated using the total exosome isolation (TEI) reagent (Invitrogen, Thermo Fisher Scientific Corporation, USA). Serum-derived exosomes were isolated from TB patients (25 new case of active TB) and matched control subjects (25 persons). The expression of miR-484, miR-425, and miR-96 was examined by RT-PCR. <b>Results:</b> The expression of miR-484, miR-425, and miR-96 were significantly increased in serum of TB patients which correlated with the TB infection level. After normalization to U6, a statistically significant upregulation of miR-484 (13 55 ± 3 44 − fold increase, p ≤ 0 01), miR-425 (6 84 ± 1 7 − fold increase, p ≤ 0 01), and miR-96 (2 37 ± 0 53 − fold increase, p ≤ 0 05) was demonstrated in TB patients in comparison to healthy controls. A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis showed the diagnostic potency of each individual serum exosomal miRNA with an area under the curve AUC =072 for miR-484 (p&lt;005), 0.66 for miR-425 (p&lt;005), and 0.62 for miR-96 (p&lt;005). <b>Conclusion:</b> These results demonstrate that exosomal miRNAs have diagnostic potential in active tuberculosis. The diagnostic power may be improved when combined with conventional diagnostic markers.