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Clinical significance of circulating miR-122 in patients with dual chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection

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Abstract

Background

The clinical significance of serum microRNA-122 (miR-122) has been shown in viral hepatitis B and C, respectively. Specifically, miR-122 stimulates hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication but suppresses hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication. The profile and clinical significance of serum miR-122 in patients with dual chronic hepatitis B and C would be an interesting and important clinical issue.

Methods

A total of 76 patients with HBV/HCV dual infection, 105 with HCV monoinfection and 39 with HBV monoinfection were enrolled. All patients received peginterferon alfa-2a (PEG-IFN)-based treatment. Serum miR-122 levels were quantified by using a sensitive hybridization-based assay.

Results

At baseline, the serum miR-122 level was lower in HCV-monoinfected patients than in HBV-monoinfected patients, whereas HBV coinfection increased the expression of miR-122. In multivariate analysis, the serum miR-122 level was positively correlated with the serum HBsAg level in patients with HBV/HCV dual infection and those with HBV monoinfection. In dually infected patients who received PEG-IFN-based treatment, a high baseline miR-122 level was positively correlated with a greater reduction of the posttreatment serum HBsAg level.

Conclusion

In summary, the serum miR-122 level is highly correlated with the HBsAg level in HBV/HCV dually infected patients and may serve as a biomarker to predict posttreatment HBsAg decline.

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Acknowledgements

The work was supported by grants from the National Taiwan University; the National Science Council and Department of Health, Executive Yuan, Taiwan; National Taiwan University Hospital, Taiwan.

Compliance with ethical requirements and Conflict of interest

The study conformed to the ethical guidelines of the 1975 Declaration of Helsinki as reflected by a priori approval by the Institutional Review Board of the National Taiwan University Hospital. All patients gave their written informed consent at enrollment. Jia-Horng Kao, Hui-Lin Wu, Tai-Chung Tseng, Chen-Hua Liu, Hung-Chih Yang, Tung-Hung Su, Pei-Jer Chen, Ding-Shinn Chen and Chun-Jen Liu declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Graduate Institute of Clinical Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, 1 Chang-Te Street, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan

    Huei-Ru Cheng, Jia-Horng Kao, Hui-Lin Wu, Pei-Jer Chen, Ding-Shinn Chen & Chun-Jen Liu

  2. Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jia-Horng Kao, Chen-Hua Liu, Hung-Chih Yang, Tung-Hung Su, Pei-Jer Chen, Ding-Shinn Chen & Chun-Jen Liu

  3. Hepatitis Research Center, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, 1 Chang-Te Street, Taipei, 10002, Taiwan

    Jia-Horng Kao, Hui-Lin Wu, Chen-Hua Liu, Tung-Hung Su, Pei-Jer Chen, Ding-Shinn Chen & Chun-Jen Liu

  4. Department of Medical Research, National Taiwan University College of Medicine and National Taiwan University Hospital, Taipei, Taiwan

    Jia-Horng Kao & Pei-Jer Chen

  5. Department of Internal Medicine, Buddhist Tzu Chi General Hospital, Taipei Branch, Taipei, Taiwan

    Tai-Chung Tseng

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  1. Huei-Ru Cheng
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Correspondence to Jia-Horng Kao, Hui-Lin Wu or Chun-Jen Liu.

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Cheng, HR., Kao, JH., Wu, HL. et al. Clinical significance of circulating miR-122 in patients with dual chronic hepatitis B and C virus infection. Hepatol Int 9, 35–42 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-014-9591-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12072-014-9591-z

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