Comparison of miRNA profiles in the immune response of pediatric acute appendicitis and pediatric enterobiasis patients caused by Enterobius vermicularis.

Background: The aim of this study was to determine and compare the miRNA profile in the immune response with the parasite in pediatric patients with acute appendicitis caused by Enterobius vermicularis and in pediatric patients with enterobiasis.

Methods: A total of 30 tissue samples, which were operated with the diagnosis of pediatric acute appendicitis in the last 10 y and Enterobius vermicularis was detected by histopathological findings, were analyzed. In addition, blood samples were taken from 30 pediatric patients diagnosed with enterobiasis for this study. The miRNAs that activate T and B cells were evaluated by a quantitative real-time PCR, statistically calculated within ΔΔCt values, and fold changes were evaluated by Welch's T test, in which p<0.5 was considered to be significant.

Results: It was found that 48 out of 136 (35.3%) miRNAs differed between the pediatric patient and healthy control groups. It was determined that 22 (57.9%) of the different miRNAs were T cell activating miRNAs and 26 (68.4%) were B cell activating miRNAs. While there was a significant difference in miRNA values activating T cells in two patient groups (p<0.01), there was no significant difference in miRNA values activating B cells (p>0.01).

Conclusions: In the study, although Enterobius vermicularis was the causative agent in both patient groups, it was revealed that the immune response of patients with acute appendicitis was more affected than enterobiasis patients.