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Considerable advances have been made in identification of the involvement of immune modulators in diseases. There is growing evidence on the role of complement pathway in pathogenesis and course of multiple sclerosis (MS). Moreover, it has been recognized that microRNAs (miRNAs) play an essential role in modulation and development of immune response in the central nervous system. We aimed to investigate the expression profile of complement factor H (CFH) and miR-146a genes in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mouse model of MS to detect the possible roles of CFH and miR-146a as biomarkers of MS disease stats.Expression of CFH and miR-146a genes in liver and brain tissues of EAE mice was measured in acute and chronic phases of disease compared to matched controls using real-time polymerase chain reaction. In the liver, increased expression of CFH gene was observed in the chronic phase compared to the acute phase. However, no significant difference was observed between acute and chronic phase mice with normal mice, while miR-146a expression was significantly decreased in livers of EAE mice in chronic group compared to acute and control groups. The expression of CFH gene in brain had a significant decrease in acute and chronic phases compared to healthy mice. Taken together, these observations indicate probable implication of complement system and miR-146a in course of immune-related diseases and reveal more facts about the pathogenesis of MS. However, further work is needed to determine protein levels of CFH and other possible targets of miR-146a in serum and cerebrospinal fluid of MS patients.

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Multiple sclerosis (MS) is the most common autoimmune inflammatory demyelinating disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. Dysregulation or mutation of miRNA genes have been linked to the pathogenesis of MS. The miRNAs are short, 20-22 nucleotide long, single-stranded regulatory and non–protein coding RNAs that modulate the expression of multiple target genes. Among miRNAs, miR-223 has been reported to play a critical role in MS. This review concentrates on the emerging role of miR-223 in inflammatory responses and specifically discusses how alterations in miR-223 expression are associated with the development of MS. This review also suggests that miR-223 can be used as a biomarker for diagnosis of MS and discovering novel therapeutics for MS treatment.

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