Investigation on the possible role of micrornas in the regulation of chemical allergen potency

Allergic contact dermatitis (ACD) is an immunological mediated inflammatory disease and is one of the most common occupational disease in industrialized countries. ACD is also one of the most commonly recognized pediatric inflammatory skin disorders, which significantly compromise their quality of life. ACD is a T-cell mediated skin inflammation caused by repeated skin exposure to low molecular weight chemicals (1). Chemical allergy is of considerable importance to the toxicologist, who has the responsibility of identifying and characterizing the allergenic potential of chemicals, and estimating the risk they pose to human health. While incredible progresses have been made in the development of nonanimal tests, currently it is not possible to estimate the sensitizing potency of chemical allergens (2). MVs release by immune system cells may be induced by soluble agonists or in response to physical or chemical stress (3). MicroRNAs are noncoding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression at the post-transcriptional level (4,5). Recent findings indicate that miRNAs contained in MVs may determine reprogramming of gene expression in target cells. Although ACD has been studied extensively, there are few studies conducted to investigate miRNA expression. The rational of this project is to examine the expression of miRNAs in an in vitro model and to study a possible correlation between the potency of contactallergens and miRNAs expression.