High serum miR-183 level is associated with the bioactivity of macrophage derived from tuberculosis patients.

As a major health threat, tuberculosis (TB) is resistant against the current therapeutic strategies. Increasing evidence indicates that miRNAs are implicated in various disorders by affecting specific target genes. Recently, the association of miRNAs with TB has also been established by several studies, and their potentials in the prognosis and treatment of TB have also been verified. miR-183 is shown to promote the activation of macrophage through NF-κB pathway. However, it is still unclear if serum miR-183 can be used to assess the activity of TB-associated macrophage. This study was aimed to address this issue. We employed qPCR assay to detect the expression level of miR-183 in blood from TB patients and healthy individuals. miR-183 abundance was found to be increased in serum samples from TB patients, compared with healthy controls. Further analysis revealed that miR-183 level is positively associated with the activity of macrophages from TB patients, evidenced by their increased phagocytosis rates and enzyme activity in high serum miR-183 group. In conclusions, high level of serum miR-183 is associated with the activity of macrophage originating from TB patients.