Estradiol Influences Inflammatory miRNA and mRNA Expression in an in vitro Epithelial Model

Each year, over 450,000 people in the United States suffer burn injury, resulting in over 3,500 deaths, commonly due to infection, impaired wound healing, and immune dysregulation. Female burn patients suffer higher mortality rates, even when controlled for factors such as age, body mass index, pre-existing conditions, and total body surface area burned. Estradiol, the major female sex hormone, has been shown to be involved with the regulation of pro-inflammatory cytokines, which correlate with poor outcomes after burn. We hypothesize estradiol induces increased expression of inflammatory cytokines and microRNAs (miRNAs), both of which are carried in extracellular ves-icles (EVs) secreted by injured cells. Airway epithelial cells were cultured and treated with estradiol (250 nM) for 24 hours. Extracellular vesicles were then isolated and analyzed for differential miR-NA production using NanoString multiplex gene technology. Finally, isolated EVs were intro-duced into peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC), and cell lysate and supernatant were ana-lyzed for expression of immunomodulatory mRNAs and proteins, respectively. It was found that estradiol exposure differentially regulates EV miRNA and PBMC mRNA but had no significant effect on levels of tested cytokines. These results offer a preliminary look into the immune dys-function caused by estradiol, which may lead to worse burn-injury outcomes for women.Bachelor of Scienc