Exosomes play an important role in cell-to-cell communication as they can transfer functional molecules such as microRNAs (miRNAs) from one cell to another, exerting biological and immunological functions. Here, we investigated the impact of HIV infection and/or heroin use on the expression of the miRNAs in plasma exosomes. We found that HIV infection or heroin use upregulated the majority (98%) of a panel of plasma exosomal miRNAs associated with immune regulation and inflammation. We also observed the enhanced effect of HIV infection and heroin use on some of these upregulated miRNAs. Our further investigation showed that the levels of four of neuro-inflammation-related miRNAs (146a, 126, 21, and let-7a) were higher in HIV-infected heroin users as compared with the control subjects. These findings indicate that the dysregulations of the plasma exosomal miRNAs support further studies to determine the role of the miRNAs in HIV and/or heroin use-mediated immune modulation and neuro-inflammation.

Graphical abstract

中文翻译：

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海洛因滥用和/或 HIV 感染使血浆外泌体 miRNA 失调。

外泌体在细胞间通讯中发挥着重要作用，因为它们可以将功能分子如 microRNA (miRNA) 从一个细胞转移到另一个细胞，发挥生物学和免疫学功能。在这里，我们研究了 HIV 感染和/或海洛因使用对血浆外泌体中 miRNA 表达的影响。我们发现 HIV 感染或海洛因使用上调了与免疫调节和炎症相关的一组血浆外泌体 miRNA 中的大部分 (98%)。我们还观察到 HIV 感染和海洛因使用对其中一些上调 miRNA 的增强作用。我们的进一步调查表明，与对照组相比，感染 HIV 的海洛因使用者的四种神经炎症相关 miRNA（146a、126、21 和 let-7a）的水平更高。

图形概要