Early Leishmania infectivity depends on miR-372/373/520d family-mediated reprogramming of polyamines metabolism in THP-1-derived macrophages.

ABSTRACT: Leishmania amazonensis is a protozoan that primarily causes cutaneous leishmaniasis in humans. The parasite relies on the amino acid arginine to survive within macrophages and establish infection, since it is a precursor for producing polyamines. On the other hand, arginine can be metabolized via nitric oxide synthase 2 (NOS2) to produce the microbicidal molecule nitric oxide (NO), although this mechanism does not apply to human macrophages since they lack NOS2 activity. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that regulate gene expression at posttranscriptional levels. Our previous work showed that mmu-miR-294 targets Nos2 favoring Leishmania survival in murine macrophages. Here, we demonstrate that human macrophages upregulate the hsa-miR-372, hsa-miR-373, and hsa-miR-520d, which pre

SUBMITTER: Fernandes JCR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10781704 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature