Plasma MicroRNA Profiling of <i>Plasmodium falciparum</i> Biomass and Association with Severity of Malaria Disease

Abstract Severe malaria (SM) is a major public health problem in malaria-endemic countries. Sequestration of Plasmodium falciparum–infected erythrocytes vital organs and the associated inflammation leads to organ dysfunction. MicroRNAs (miRNAs), which are rapidly released from damaged tissues into host fluids, constitute promising biomarker for prognosis SM. We applied next-generation sequencing evaluate differential expression miRNAs SM uncomplicated (UM). Six were with vitro P. falciparum cytoadhesion, severity children, biomass. Relative hsa-miR-4497 quantified by TaqMan-quantitative reverse transcription PCR was higher plasma children than those UM (p<0.048) again correlated biomass (p = 0.033). These findings suggest that different physiopathological processes lead pave way future studies assess their prognostic value malaria.