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A New Strategy for Treatment of Liver Fibrosis

Letting MicroRNAs Do the Job

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Abstract

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, endogenous, noncoding RNA molecules that regulate gene expression at a post-translational level. MiRNAs have been recognized in the regulation of physiological conditions. Moreover, awareness of the association between dysregulated miRNAs and human diseases is increasing, which consequently brings miRNAs to the frontline in the development of novel therapeutic strategies. We review the latest advances in our knowledge of the involvement of miRNAs in fibrosis with particular emphasis on hepatic fibrosis and the possibilities in the near future for miRNA-based therapy for targeted treatment of liver fibrosis. With recent advances in our understanding of the important role of senescence in the resolution of activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), we suggested the therapeutic potential of inducing activated HSCs into senescence by an miRNA-based strategy.

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Acknowledgments

We kindly thank Dr. Cathapermal Davin and Dr. Abhishek Abilack for revising the paper. No sources of funding were used to prepare this manuscript. The authors have no conflicts of interest that are directly relevant to the content of this article.

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  1. Department of Infection and Liver Diseases, Liver Research Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Wenzhou Medical College, Wenzhou, China

    Shao-Long Chen, Ming-Hua Zheng, Ke-Qing Shi, Tao Yang & Yong-Ping Chen

  2. Institute of Hepatology, Wenzhou Medical College, No. 2 Fuxue lane, Wenzhou, 325000, China

    Shao-Long Chen, Ming-Hua Zheng, Ke-Qing Shi, Tao Yang & Yong-Ping Chen

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  1. Shao-Long Chen
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Correspondence to Yong-Ping Chen.

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Chen, SL., Zheng, MH., Shi, KQ. et al. A New Strategy for Treatment of Liver Fibrosis. BioDrugs 27, 25–34 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s40259-012-0005-2

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