Parallel expression profiling of hepatic and serum microRNA-122 associated with clinical features and treatment responses in chronic hepatitis C patients

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 6; no. 1; p. 21510
• Main Authors: Butt, Azeem Mehmood, Raja, Arsalan Jamil, Siddique, Shafiqa, Khan, Jahangir Sarwar, Shahid, Muhammad, Tayyab, Ghias-Un-Nabi, Minhas, Zahid, Umar, Muhammad, Idrees, Muhammad, Tong, Yigang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 22.02.2016; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: 38/89; 38/90; 631/326/596/1905; 692/4020/4021/234/2513/1551; Adolescent; Adult; Alanine; Alanine transaminase; Alanine Transaminase - blood; Biomarkers - blood; Disease; Disease Progression; Female; Gene Expression Profiling; Gene Expression Regulation; Hepacivirus - pathogenicity; Hepatitis; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C, Chronic - blood; Hepatitis C, Chronic - genetics; Hepatitis C, Chronic - pathology; Hepatocytes; Humanities and Social Sciences; Humans; Liver; Liver - metabolism; Liver - pathology; Liver diseases; Male; MicroRNAs - biosynthesis; MicroRNAs - blood; Middle Aged; miRNA; multidisciplinary; Pakistan; Patients; Regression analysis; Science; Transaminase
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/srep21510

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate a variety of biological processes. Recently, human liver-specific miRNA miR-122 has been reported to facilitate hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in liver cells. HCV is one of the leading causes of liver diseases worldwide. In Pakistan, the estimated prevalence is up to 10%. Here, we report hepatic and serum miR-122 expression profiling from paired liver and serum samples from treatment-naive chronic hepatitis C (CHC) patients and controls. We aimed to elucidate the biomarker potential of serum miR-122 for monitoring disease progression and predicting end treatment response (ETR). Hepatic miR-122 levels were significantly down-regulated in CHC patients. A significant inverse correlation was observed between hepatic and serum miR-122 levels, indicating that serum miR-122 levels reflect HCV-associated disease progression. Both hepatic and serum miR-122 were significantly correlated ( P  < 0.05) with several clinicopathological features of CHC. Receiver operator curve analysis showed that serum miR-122 had superior discriminatory ability even in patients with normal alanine transaminase levels. Multivariate logistic regression analysis highlighted pre-treatment serum miR-122 levels as independent predictors of ETR. In conclusion, serum miR-122 holds the potential to serve as a promising biomarker of disease progression and ETR in CHC patients.