Inhibition of miR-199b-5p Suppresses the Tuberculosis-Induced Inflammation in Spinal Tuberculosis via Targeting Gcnt2.

Spinal tuberculosis (STB) is more common in children and young adults and can lead to neurological deficits and spinal deformity in severe cases. Therefore, it is important to find a biomarker for studying the pathogenesis of STB. RT-qPCR was utilized to measure the expression of miR-199b-5p in STB. Moreover, the GPL33147 database was utilized to validate the expression of miR-199b-5p in both STB patients and healthy individuals. Pearson's correlation analysis was employed to explore the correlation between miR-199a-5p and Glucosaminyl (N-acetyl) transferase 2 (Gcnt2) in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and tissues from STB. The Mycobacterium tuberculosis (Mtb) infection model was constructed by infecting THP-1 cells with 10 multiplicity of infection (MOI) Mtb for 24 h. Overexpressed and inhibited miR-199b-5p and Gcnt2 in the Mtb infection model were realized by cell transfection. ELISA was utilized to measure the expression of inflammatory factors. The target of miR-199b-5p was forecasted by TargetScan. Additionally, the interaction between miR-199b-5p and Gcnt2 was elucidated through the implementation of a dual-luciferase assay system. The expression of miR-199b-5p was increased in PBMCs and tissues from STB, and the two were positively correlated. Gcnt2 was the downstream target of miR-199b-5p, and they negatively correlated in PBMCs and tissues from STB. In the Mtb infection model, overexpressed miR-199b-5p increased inflammatory factors, and overexpression of Gcnt2 reduced this increase. miR-199b-5p was increased in STB, which was a potential biomarker of STB. Notably, miR-199b-5p and Gcnt2 exhibited a collaborative role in STB, displaying an inverse correlation with one another within this context.