The T Cell-Specific miRNA-Target Network in Psoriasis: A Systematic Review

Psoriasis is a chronic skin disease characterized by keratinocyte hyperproliferation, involving T cells as the major players in the manifestation of lesional and systemic inflammation. With the extensive exploration of keratinocyte dysfunctionality, T cell-centric deregulation has gained much focus in the context of disease etiology. miRNAs, the molecular switches known to drive disease manifestation via altering keratinocyte biology, have not been much studied in the context of T cell alterations, with only a few reports. This study aims to explore T cell-associated miRNAs and their target signaling networks to understand their role in modulating psoriasis-specific T cell changes. miRNAs with altered expression in psoriatic T cells were identified through a meta-analysis of the existing literature and datasets. These miRNAs were then used to identify cognate targets and T cell signaling pathways to elucidate T cell-specific cascades influenced by miRNAs, potentially explaining miRNA driven T cell dysregulation in psoriasis. The study identified 14 miRNAs with altered expression in psoriatic T cells and 256 downstream targets involved in 15 T cell-associated signaling pathways. The miRNA-driven targets and pathways identified may dysregulate T cell activation, proliferation, survival, and subset differentiation. These findings suggest multiple miRNA-target signaling axes that require experimental validation to better understand T cell-mediated disease etiology.