title: Tying malaria and microRNAs: from the biology to future diagnostic perspectives.
abstract: Symptoms caused by bacterial, viral and malarial infections usually overlap and aetiologic diagnosis is difficult. Patient management in low-resource countries with limited laboratory services has been based predominantly on clinical evaluation and syndromic approaches. However, such clinical assessment has limited accuracy both for identifying the likely aetiological cause and for the early recognition of patients who will progress to serious or fatal disease. Plasma-detectable biomarkers that rapidly and accurately diagnose severe infectious diseases could reduce morbidity and decrease the unnecessary use of usually scarce therapeutic drugs. The discovery of microRNAs (miRNAs) has opened exciting new avenues to identify blood biomarkers of organ-specific injury. This review assesses current knowledge on the relationship between malaria disease and miRNAs, and evaluates how future research might lead to the use of these small molecules for identifying patients with severe malaria disease and facilitate treatment decisions.
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Carrer Rosselló 153 (CEK building), 08036, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Mercedes
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rubio
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Carrer Rosselló 153 (CEK building), 08036, Barcelona, Spain.|Centro de Investigação em Saúde da Manhiça (CISM), Maputo, Mozambique.
authors.forename: Quique
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Bassat
authors.affiliation: Centre for Genomic Regulation (CRG), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology; CIBER in Epidemiology and Public Health (CIBERESP), Universitat Pompeu Fabra (UPF), Barcelona, Spain.|Experimental Genetics, Sidra Medical and Research Centre, Doha, Qatar.
authors.forename: Xavier
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Estivill
authors.affiliation: ISGlobal, Barcelona Ctr. Int. Health Res. (CRESIB), Hospital Clínic-Universitat de Barcelona, Carrer Rosselló 153 (CEK building), 08036, Barcelona, Spain. alfredo.mayor@isglobal.org.|Centro de Investigação em Saúde da Manhiça (CISM), Maputo, Mozambique. alfredo.mayor@isglobal.org.
authors.forename: Alfredo
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Mayor
mesh_terms: D003955:Diagnostic Tests, Routine / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000473:pathology*; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000032:analysis*; D025202:Molecular Diagnostic Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000639:trends
chemical_list: D035683:MicroRNAs
keywords: Biomarker; Diagnosis; Disease; Malaria; MicroRNA; Severity