Micro-RNA expression profile of BALB/c mouse glandular stomach in the early phase of Cryptosporidium muris infection

Cryptosporidiosis is a zoonotic disease caused by infection with the oocyst of Cryptosporidium in human and animals. MicroRNA (miRNA) emerges as important player in regulating the innate immune response against parasitic infection. Here, we compared miRNA profiles of the glandular stomach of Cryptosporidium muris (C. muris) infected and un-infected BALB/c mice using microarray sequencing. A total of 10 miRNAs (including 3 upregulated and 7 downregulated miRNAs) with significant expression differences (|FC| ≥ 2 and P value test < 0.05) were screened after C. muris infected the glandular stomach of BALB/c mice for 8 hours. MiRWalk and miRDB online bioinformatics software were used to predict the target genes of differentially expressed miRNAs. Gene Ontology (GO) and KEGG enrichment analyses were performed for annotate the target genes. GO terms indicates that many are associated with the relevant generic transcription and ion transport. In addition, the KEGG analyses showed that the target genes were strictly related to a diverse types of tumor disease progression and the antipathogen immunity pathway. In the current study, we first reported the changes of miRNA expression profile in glandular stomach of BALB/c mice at the early phase of C. muris invasion. As such, dysregulation of miRNA expression profile may contribute to our understanding of the Cryptosporidiosis pathology. The result reported in this paper provide a new perspective into the miRNA regulatory mechanisms of Cryptosporidiosis, which may help to develop effective control strategies against Cryptosporidium. The experimental (three mice) and control groups (three mice) were sampled at 8 hours post-infection. The glandular stomach was collected from mice immediately euthanasia and washed with cold normal saline to remove the gastric content. Tissue samples were immediately placed into liquid nitrogen and stored at -80℃ for RNA extraction.