Candidate microRNAs in Malaria Infection Biomarkers: A Systematic Review.

Malaria continues to be a public health problem in tropical countries, causing 445.000/year deaths in 2017. Infected malaria parasite invasion and host immune system results in dysregulation of genes expressions during the transcription processes serve as microRNA. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs with 18-24 nucleotides in length, which regulate gene expression. The candidate's miRNAs would be used as potential biomarkers in the future and perspective. We aimed to do a systematic review on miRNAs serve as candidate clinical biomarkers in malaria infection. Electronic databases (Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL and Cochrane data bases) were screened and articles were included per established selection criteria. We searched to identify publications all over the world related malaria and miRNA. PRISMA guidelines were followed, 262 articles were searched, duplicates and unconnected papers were removed and excluded. 19 articles were included in the studies. Upon infection with malaria parasite, infected liver or tissue affected by parasite sequestration may produce tissue-specific miRNAs that are released to the blood circulation. Immune system results in dysregulation of target genes serve be specific candidate miRNAs as biomarker in early malaria infection, severe malaria and cerebral malaria such as PfEMP-1, IFN-γ, AGO-1 AGO-2; IL4, CD80, CD86; CD36, ANG-1 and ANG-2, these candidate genes are associated with target candidate miRNAs such as miR-16, miR-155, miR-150, miR-451 and miR-223.