However, compared with their well-known role in cancer, the biological and diagnostic role of miRNAs in LTBI is still poorly understood. In the present

study, we used U937 cell line as in vitro macrophage model, focused on the interaction between U937 macrophages and Mtb Hsp16.3, aiming to identify differentially expressed miRNAs in U937 macrophages. Our study intends to explore this website the potential function of miRNAs in the interaction of macrophages with Mtb Hsp16.3 and provide insights for investigating the role of macrophage homeostasis in LTBI. Methods Ethics statement and participants The local ethics committee of the Beijing Tuberculosis and Thoracic Tumor Research Institute reviewed and approved the study. Written informed consent was obtained from participants before their enrollment in the study. Twenty Selleck Pevonedistat clinical health care workers of Beijing Chest Hospital were recruited and all have history of close contact with active tuberculosis patient for more than two years. The four healthy controls were students of Suzhou Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Technology and had no history of contact with TB. Potential study participants

were excluded if they had another infectious disease. The interferon gamma release assay (IGRA) (T-SPOT.TB, Oxford Immunuotec, Oxfordshire, UK) was used to distinguish the LTBI group from healthy control. Fourteen clinical health care worker selleck products participants were IGRA-positive find more and included as LTBI group while the four healthy control subjects were IGRA-negative. PBMC samples preparation Peripheral venous blood (10 ml) was drawn

from each subject and PBMC samples were isolated by density gradient separation using Lympholyte-H, immediately mixed with TRIzol (1 ml) and frozen at -80°C until RNA were extracted. Preparation of the IDLV and Infection To obtain the Mtb Hsp16.3 expression vector pLVHsp-IRES-GFP, the encoding gene Rv2031c was amplified and cloned into the pLVX-IRES-GFP plasmid, and confirmed by sequencing. The Lenti-X HTX Packaging System (Integrase Deficient) (Clontech, Mountain View, CA, USA) was used to prepare the viral vector. The U937 cells were cultured in RPMI1640 medium (Gibco, Grand Island, NY, USA) containing 10% fetal bovine serum under 5% CO2 at 37°C, infected with viral IDLVs stock at 5:1 multiplicity of infection (MOI), refreshed with medium 6 h later and incubated for 64 h. Western blot analysis Briefly, U937 cells were infected with IDLVs (Hsp/GFP), and control IDLVs (GFP), respectively. After 64 h, the cells were collected and then heated for 5 min at 95°C in 1 × protein loading buffer containing β-mercaptoethanol, and cell extracts were separated on 12% SDS-PAGE gel and transferred to PVDF membranes. The membranes were blocked with 5% skimmed milk-TBST, incubated with polyclonal rabbit anti-Mtb Hsp16.