Gene Expression Profiling of TRIM Family in Individuals with Latent versus Active Tuberculosis and Reveals Potential Biomarkers for Diagnosis

Abstract Tripartite motif (TRIM) protein family plays important regulatory roles in innate immune and inflammatory responses. Their dysregulation causes several diseases classified as virus infective diseases, cancers, immunological diseases, neuropsychiatric disorders, or developmental disorders. Nevertheless, the role and function of many members of TRIM family in tuberculosis (TB) remains largely unknown. Our study employed qRT-PCR to first profile the mRNA expression levels of 72 members of TRIM family in patients with active TB, latent tuberculosis infection (LTBI) and healthy individuals. Our results revealed a panel of TRIM genes markedly downregulated in patients with active TB when compared to LTBI subjects and healthy controls. Subsequently, in vitro cell infection experiment identified that some differentially expressed TRIM genes were specifically linked to Mtb infection. More importantly, we established the potential use of these dysregulated TRIM genes as biomarkers for the diagnosis of active TB from LTBI or healthy controls.