evaluation of mir-146a expression level in macrophages exposed to candida glabrata

background and purpose: micrornas are small non-coding rnas with 1924- nucleotides in length. up- or downregulation of many mirnas has been shown by stimulation of toll-like receptors (tlrs) in the innate immune system. up-regulation of mir-146a has been reported by both tlr and heat-killed candida albicans. in this study, we aimed to evaluate the expression of mir-146a in cultured monocyte-derived macrophages (mdms) infected by candida glabrata at 12, 24, and 48 hours. materials and methods: mir-146a expression was evaluated by qrt-real time polymerase chain reaction (pcr) at three time points in c. glabrata-infected mdms. the data was analyzed using repeated measures anova. results: mir-146a expression was down-regulated in infected mdms compared to the control group (p<0.018). the expression of mir-146a was at its highest level at 48 h, as compared to 12 and 24 h (p<0.018). the differences between the experimental group compared to the control group were statistically significant (p<0.018). conclusion: these results suggest that mir-146a can be involved in regulating macrophage function following tlr stimulation in c. glabrata-infected mdms.