Sputum and serum microRNA-144 levels in patients with tuberculosis before and after treatment

Objective: To measure the expression levels of sputum and serum microRNA-144 (miR-144) before and after the treatment of patients with tuberculosis (TB).

Methods: Details of the cases of a total of 124 TB patients were collected at Qilu Hospital of Shandong University between April 2014 and April 2015. Fifty-three of these patients had sputum positive for bacteria and a cavity on imaging (group A), 20 patients had sputum negative for bacteria and a cavity on imaging (group B), and 51 patients had sputum negative for bacteria and no cavity on imaging (group C). One hundred seventeen healthy people who attended the hospital for a physical examination were recruited as controls. Quantitative real-time PCR (qRT-PCR) was used to measure the levels of sputum and serum miR-144 before anti-TB treatment and at 1 month after treatment.

Results: Before treatment, sputum and serum miR-144 expression levels in the TB patients were both higher than those of the controls (both p<0.05). After treatment, sputum and serum miR-144 levels in the TB patients were significantly lower than those measured before treatment (both p<0.05). The levels of sputum and serum miR-144 in the improved TB patients decreased significantly after treatment compared to those measured before treatment (both p<0.001). Significant differences were found in sputum and serum miR-144 levels in the TB patients, with or without improvement, compared with the healthy controls (all p<0.05).

Conclusion: Sputum and serum miR-144 levels were significantly upregulated in the TB patients, but were found to decrease significantly after anti-TB treatment.