Comprehensive analysis of small RNA profile by massive parallel sequencing in HTLV-1 asymptomatic subjects with monoclonal and polyclonal rearrangement of the T-cell antigen receptor γ-chain

Introduction: In this study, we used a massive parallel sequencing technology to investigate the cellular small RNA (sRNA) operating in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of the Human T-lymphotropic virus type I (HTLV-I) infected asymptomatic subjects with a monoclonal and polyclonal rearrangement of the T-cell antigen receptor γ-chain. Materials and Methods: Blood samples from 15 HTLV-1 asymptomatic carriers who were tested for clonal TCR-γ gene (seven and eight subjects presented monoclonal and polyclonal expansion of HTLV-1 infected cells, respectively), and were submitted to Illumina for small RNA library construction. sRNA libraries were prepared from cryoperserved PBMCs using TrueSeq Small RNA Library Preparation Kit (Illumina). The sRNA-Seq reads were aligned, annotated, and profiled by different bioinformatics tools. Results: Through bioinformatics analysis, we identified a total of 494 known sRNAs and 120 putative novel sRNAs. Twenty-two known and 15 novel sRNA showed a different expression (>2-fold) between the asymptomatic monoclonal (ASM) and asymptomatic polyclonal carriers (ASP). The hsa-mir-196a-5p was the most abundantly upregulated micro RNA (miRNA) and the hsa-mir-133a followed by hsa-mir-509-3p were significantly downregulated miRNAs with more than a three-fold difference in the ASM than ASP group. The target genes predicted to be regulated by the differentially expressed miRNAs play essential roles in diverse biological processes including cell proliferation, differentiation, and/or apoptosis. Discussion: Our results provide an opportunity for a further understanding of sRNA regulation and function in HTLV-1 infected subjects with monoclonality evidence.