|
Vol 50(2016) N 2 p. 242-245; DOI 10.1134/S0026893316020072 M. Gholami1, M. Ravanshad1*, S.-M. Alavian2, K. Baesi3, S. Moallemi3 Evaluation of miR-122 level in the plasma of chronically HCV infected patients 1Department of Medical Virology, Faculty of Medical Sciences, Tarbiat Modares University, Tehran, 14115-111, Iran2Founder of Iran Hepatitis Network & Tehran Hepatitis Center, Baqiyatallah Research Center for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Baqiyatallah University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, 19945-581, Iran 3Department of Medical Virology, Iranian Research Center for HIV AIDS (IRCHA) Iranian Institute for Reduction of High-Risk Behaviors, Tehran University of Medical Sciences (TUMS), Tehran, 14197-313, Iran *Ravanshad@modares.ac.ir Received - 2015-01-24; Accepted - 2015-03-01 MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNA molecules, which have an important function in regulating RNA stability and gene expression. They also can circulate in a cell-free form in the blood thatmakes them potential disease markers. The liver contains various classes of miRNAs in which miR-122 accounts for about 70% of all miRNAs and it has been proved that its level increases in case of liver damage. Here, we investigated plasma levels of miR-122 as a useful disease parameter in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection. Thirty five hemophilia and thalassemia patients with CHC were studied. The total RNA was extracted from plasma samples, and miR-122 levels were measured by qPCR and then compared with the specific liver markers. The plasma levels of alanine transaminase (ALT) and aspartate transaminase(AST) were correlated with plasma miR-122 level in CHC patients, and the level of circulating miR-122 in healthy individual groups were rarely lower than those of patients with CHC. In our study, miR-122 levels correlated well with markers of liver inflammatory activity. Plasma miR-122 can be assumed to be another marker in liver similar to the currently used specific markers such as ALT and AST for evaluation of liver damage in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patients. Moreover, the correlation between miR-122 and ALT was shown to be higher than between miR-122 and AST. microRNA, hepatitis C virus, liver, ALT, AST |