Introduction
Echinococcosis is a parasitic disease caused by the larvae of Echinococcus tapeworms parasitic on the human body1-3. The disease is mainly distributed in the developed areas of animal husbandry in the western of China. Ningxia is also the main epidemic area of ​​echinococcosis4. Echinococcosis is mainly divided into two categories: cystic echinococcosis(CE) and alveolar echinococcosis(AE). the most common site of disease is mainly in the liver, and a few can also be found in the lungs and other organs5, 6. The prevalence and incidence of CE is higher than AE7, 8. But the damage of CE to the body is significantly higher than that of AE. CE is relatively easy to diagnose by B-ultrasound imaging and it can be removed by surgery9, 10. AE showed infiltrative growth and the early clinical symptoms were not obvious, so it is not easy to be discovered. Once discovered, it is often in the late stage and cause damage to organs. AE is very serious, which is also called ”worm cancer”. The operation on AE is extremely difficult, which is necessary to resect the part of the liver (including pathogens) damaged by infiltration and growth. In the most severe cases, liver transplantation is required11-13. However, the molecular mechanism of liver injury after Echinococcus multilocularis (E. multiloculari s) infection is still unclear.
MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs with the capability of modulating gene expression at the post-transcriptional level14, 15. In recent years, miRNAs have been widely involved in the regulation of cancer16, infectious diseases17and other diseases18. Altered expression of miRNAs is associated with liver metabolism dysregulation, liver injury, liver fibrosis and tumour development, making miRNAs attractive therapeutic strategies for the diagnosis and treatment of liver diseases19. Here, We injected E. multiloculari s through the hepatic portal vein to establish a mouse model of infection, after 3 months of infection, transcriptome sequencing was performed, and miRNAs related to liver injury were screened out. These miRNAs may become the potential targets for the prevention and treatment of AE.