title: Expression and clinical significance of miR-122 and miR-29 in hepatitis B virus-related liver disease.
abstract: MicroRNA molecules have been increasingly regarded as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of certain diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and clinical significance of miR-122 and miR-29 in liver disease related to hepatitis B virus infection. The serum levels of miR-122 and miR-29 in 20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 20 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC), 29 patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB), 20 cases of hepatitis B virus carriers (ASC), and 20 healthy controls (HC) were determined by a fluorescence real-time quantitative PCR method and then evaluated by clinical correlation analysis. Compared with the serum levels of miR-122 in the HC, LC, and ASC groups, those in patients with HCC and CHB were significantly increased. The serum levels of miR-29 in LC patients were lower than those in the healthy controls (P < 0.01). A positive correlation was observed between the expression of miR-122 and miR-29, and HBV DNA in patients with CHB. A negative correlation was found between miR-29 and α-fetoprotein in patients with HCC. The elevation in miR-122 was correlated with liver damage in CHB patients and with the pathogenesis of liver cancer in HCC patients. The decrease in miR-29 expression was related to the incidence of liver fibrosis. The detection of miR-122 and miR-29 may be useful in evaluating the inflammatory liver injury and fibrosis associated with chronic HBV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, China xingtj518@sina.com.
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Xing
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, China.
authors.forename: D F
authors.initials: DF
authors.lastname: Jiang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, China.
authors.forename: J X
authors.initials: JX
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Taizhou People's Hospital, Taizhou, China.
authors.forename: Z L
authors.initials: ZL
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000410:Alanine Transaminase / Q000097:blood; D001483:Base Sequence; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D016022:Case-Control Studies; D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000150:complications*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood*; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D004279:DNA, Viral; C531907:MIRN122 microRNA, human; C532045:MIRN29a microRNA, human; D035683:MicroRNAs; D000410:Alanine Transaminase