Differential miRNA expression profiling of highly pathogenic avian influenza virus H5N1 infected chicken lungs reveals critical microRNAs,biological pathways and genes involved in the molecular pathogenesis

Dear Editor,Avian influenza is a highly contagious viral infection affecting the respiratory system.MicroRNAs(miRNAs)are small,regulatory,endogenous,non-coding RNAs of~22 nt that regulate the gene expression of the target mRNAs by cleavage or translational repression.miRNAs are connected with the host response during avian influenza virus(AIV)infection(Wang et al.,2009,2012).In this study.