Published online Jun 7, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i21.3864
Peer-review started: December 1, 2016
First decision: December 28, 2016
Revised: January 18, 2017
Accepted: March 2, 2017
Article in press: March 2, 2017
Published online: June 7, 2017
To investigate the prospective importance of serum micro (mi)RNAs (miR-125b, miR-138b, miR-1269, miR-214-5p, miR-494, miR375 and miR-145) as early biomarkers for the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Two-hundred and fifty HCV4a patients, 224 HCV4a-HCC patients, and 84 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Expression levels of miR214-5p, miR-125b, miR-1269 and miR-375 were quantified using quantitative real-time PCR.
Expression of the selected miRNAs in serum was significantly lower in HCC patients than in the healthy controls, except for miR-1269 and miR-494. There was a significant difference between HCC and HCV patients, in particular for HCC and late stage fibrosis, rather than HCV patients and early fibrosis. It is obvious that miR-1269 was significantly upregulated in HCC cases compared to hepatic fibrosis cases. Each miRNA can show HCC progression. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the tested panel of miRNAs (miR214-5p, miR-125b, miR-1269 and miR-375) represent accurate and specific indictors of HCC development.
This study presents a panel of miRNAs with strong power as putative diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HCV-induced HCC. Moreover, miR-214-5p and miR-1269 could be considered as early biomarkers for tracking the progress of liver fibrosis to HCC.
Core tip: Lack of compelling methods for early diagnosis of hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) disease leads to poor prognosis. The identification of more reliable markers for diagnosis of HCC with easy methodologies for HCC screening and detection in early stage is desperately required. A collection of small non-coding circulating RNAs associated with HCC related-HCV has been found to be differentially communicated and included in the pathogenesis of the disease. Thus, we can use these molecules as prospective biomarkers for HCC, with some of the miRNAs representing biomarkers for liver fibrosis progression.