We then applied two additional approaches to further investigate the direct effect of abnormal Dicer level on miRNA in sepsis: i) by silencing of DICER1 expression using siRNA to mimic sepsis-reduced Dicer function in MEG-01 cells and ii) via specific inhibition of calpain 1 and calpain 2 with calpeptin to modulate the level of miR-26b in these cells. The gene discussed is CAPN2; the disease is Sepsis.