A study of dengue patients identified two plasma extracellular-vesicle microRNAs, hsa-miR-107 and hsa-miR-6879-5p, as candidate biomarkers associated with warning signs.
The findings suggest a possible way to distinguish patients with warning signs, but the study does not by itself establish a clinical diagnostic test or show that either microRNA causes disease severity. The report describes strong diagnostic performance, but its supplied summary does not include enough detail to judge how accurately the markers would work in practice.
What the study found
The clinical sample included 52 dengue patients, divided evenly between 26 with warning signs and 26 without warning signs.
The researchers first used a microarray to profile microRNAs in plasma extracellular vesicles. That screen identified 24 microRNAs with higher expression in patients with warning signs. Hsa-miR-107 and hsa-miR-6879-5p were then selected as potential biomarkers.
The selected microRNA findings were validated with RT-qPCR, and ROC curve analysis, a way to assess how well a measure separates two groups, was used to evaluate diagnostic performance. The report describes that performance as strong, but the supplied analysis gives no numerical ROC measures, decision thresholds, or confidence intervals.
A link with platelets, and a laboratory test
Platelet count had a statistically significant, moderate positive correlation with hsa-miR-107 expression. In other words, the two measurements tended to rise together in this dataset, but the supplied report does not state the correlation coefficient or p-value.
The study also used computer-based analyses to predict target genes, build a network of possible microRNA-to-gene interactions, and identify hub genes. Functional enrichment, gene ontology, and co-expression analyses were used to examine the biological processes represented by those predicted links.
In a separate in vitro experiment, the researchers introduced hsa-miR-107 into THP-1 cells and measured P2RY12 expression by RT-qPCR, using GAPDH as the reference. Hsa-miR-107 transfection was associated with lower P2RY12 expression in the cells.
That result comes from a cell experiment, not direct evidence in human patients. The report does not provide the size of the change or the experimental controls, so the finding cannot establish a patient-level clinical effect.
Important questions remain
The available article summary does not report how participants were selected, where they were recruited, when samples were collected, or whether patients were followed over time. The report also does not specify the criteria used to select the two candidate microRNAs from the 24 with higher expression.
Those gaps matter because an association with warning-sign status is not the same as prospectively predicting disease progression. Without quantitative ROC results, thresholds, confidence intervals, the correlation coefficient, or the p-value, readers cannot determine the markers' diagnostic accuracy or the precision of the reported association from the supplied text.
The main unanswered questions are whether the two microRNAs predict progression in larger independent dengue cohorts, whether their reported diagnostic performance holds in other populations and clinical settings, and how the relationship between hsa-miR-107 and P2RY12 relates to patient outcomes. The authors describe the molecules as candidate biomarkers that might support diagnosis and monitoring, rather than as a ready clinical tool.
Publication details
The article was published as the version of record on 21 August 2026. The authors declared no competing interests.
The work was funded by Malaysia's Ministry of Higher Education and the Malaysian Society of Haematology, with scholarship support for Gokulakannan Venkatesan. The paper states that no datasets were generated or analysed during the study.
Paper data and sources
Original title: Plasma-derived extracellular vesicle microRNA as a potential biomarker associated with disease progression in non-severe dengue infection.
Authors: Gokulakannan Venkatesan, Wan Suriana Wan Ab Rahman, Wan Nazatul Shima Shahidan et al.
Journal/Repository: Infection
Status: Peer-reviewed
First online: 2026-08-21
DOI: 10.1007/s15010-026-02923-7
Original paper · Full text