High-Throughput miRNA Screen Against Intracellular Staphylococcus aureus

A high-throughput screen of 2,469 human miRNA mimics in A549 epithelial cells infected with S. aureus USA300 identified candidate miRNAs for host-directed therapy. The dataset includes results from validation across different bacterial strains and cell lines, alongside RNA-seq profiling of host responses. Ten candidate miRNAs were identified, with three—miR-4430, miR-1249-5p, and miR-147a—consistently reducing intracellular bacterial burden.

Use Cases

• Prioritize candidate miRNAs from the 2,469 screened using network centrality analysis results to identify multifunctional antimicrobial leads.
• Validate miRNA efficacy by comparing effects on intracellular bacterial burden across different S. aureus strains and epithelial cell lines.
• Analyze RNA-seq host response data to examine complementary pathway-level programs, such as STAT1- and PTAFR-associated signaling enhanced by miR-4430.
• Investigate how miR-1249-5p and miR-147a modulate extracellular matrix organisation and integrin-mediated adhesion to interfere with bacterial entry.

Strengths

• Screen tested a large library of 2,469 human miRNA mimics for systematic discovery.
• Validation includes multiple S. aureus strains and epithelial cell lines, increasing result robustness.
• Includes transcriptomic RNA-seq data profiling host responses to candidate miRNAs.
• Results highlight three specific miRNAs (miR-4430, miR-1249-5p, miR-147a) with consistent, multifunctional effects.

Limitations

• Dataset scale is limited to 3.8 MB, suggesting it contains summary or processed results rather than raw high-throughput sequencing data.
• Primary screening was conducted in a single cell line (A549), limiting immediate generalizability to other cell types.
• The specific row count, column structure, and sample-level data are unavailable, hindering detailed reproducibility analysis.

Provenance

Source

Pablo Castañera via figshare.

Collection Method

High-throughput screening of miRNA mimics in infected epithelial cells, followed by network analysis, validation, and RNA-seq profiling.

Freshness

Last updated March 25, 2026.