Background To evaluate the ability of the estimated plasma expression levels of genes of microRNA (MiR-) 146a and
155 to differentiate between samples of pregnant women suspected to be infected by T. gondii. 50 newly pregnant
women who had at least one of the criteria of high risk for toxoplasma infection and 50 newly primigravida women
free of these criteria gave blood samples for qualitative determination of serum toxoplasma antibodies and estimation
of plasma expression levels of MiR-146a and 155 using the qRT-PCR. During the pregnancy course, the incidence of
pregnancy complications was recorded.
Results Twenty-six women were IgM−/IgG−, 17 women were IgM+/IgG− and 7 women were IgM+/IgG+. Thirty-two
women had pregnancy complications with significantly lower incidence in IgM−/IgG− women. Plasma expression
levels of MiR-146a and 155 were significantly higher in total patients compared to control levels and were significantly
higher in samples of IgM+/IgG+ patients than in other samples. Statistical analyses defined a high plasma level of
MiR-155 as the highly significant predictor for oncoming pregnancy complications and high levels of both microRNAs
as predictors for the presence of toxoplasmosis despite seronegativity. Kaplan-Meier regression analysis defined
increasing cumulative risk of having toxoplasmosis despite seronegativity with plasma levels of MiR-146a and MiR-155
of 1.2 and 3, respectively.