MicroRNA expression profile of HCT-8 in the early phase of Cryptosporidium parvum infection

Cryptosporidium parvum is an important zoonotic parasitic disease worldwide, but the molecular mechanisms of the host–parasite interaction are not fully understood. Noncoding microRNAs (miRNAs) are considered key regulators of parasitic diseases. Therefore, we used microarray, qPCR, and bioinformatic analyses to investigate the intestinal epithelial miRNA expression profile after Cryptosporidium parvum infection.Twenty miRNAs were differentially expressed after infection (four upregulated and 16 downregulated). Further analysis of the differentially expressed miRNAs revealed that many important cellular responses were triggered by Cryptosporidium parvum infection, including cell apoptosis and the inflammatory and immune responses.This study demonstrates for the first time that the miRNA expression profile of human intestinal epithelium cells is altered by C. parvum infection. This dysregulation of miRNA expression may contribute to the regulation of host biological processes in response to C. parvum infection, including cell apoptosis and the immune responses. These results provide new insight into the regulatory mechanisms of host miRNAs during cryptosporidiosis, which may offer potential targets for future C. parvum control strategies. In the study presented here,the miRNAs expression profiles of HCT-8 cells at 4 and 12 h post-Cryptosporidium parvum infection were analyzed via microarray, qPCR, and bioinformatic analyses. Infected and uninfected HCT-8 cells were collected at 4h and at 12h. All HCT-8 cells were washed three times with PBS, and 1 ml TRIZOL reagent (Invitrogen, Carlsbad, CA, USA) was added to each well. Total RNA was isolated according to the manufacturer’s protocols.All assays were performed in triplicate.