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Sensitive detection of hepatocellular injury in chronic hepatitis C patients with circulating hepatocyte‐derived micro RNA ‐122
Author(s) -
Meer A. J.,
Farid W. R. R.,
Sonneveld M. J.,
Ruiter P. E.,
Boonstra A.,
Vuuren A. J.,
Verheij J.,
Hansen B. E.,
Knegt R. J.,
Laan L. J. W.,
Janssen H. L. A.
Publication year - 2013
Publication title -
journal of viral hepatitis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.329
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1365-2893
pISSN - 1352-0504
DOI - 10.1111/jvh.12001
Subject(s) - hepatocyte , medicine , gastroenterology , chronic hepatitis , microrna , liver injury , logistic regression , biomarker , hepatitis c , liver disease , chronic liver disease , immunology , virus , biology , gene , cirrhosis , biochemistry , in vitro
Summary As chronic hepatitis C patients with progressive disease can present themselves with normal ALT levels, more sensitive biomarkers are needed. Micro RNA s are newly discovered small noncoding RNA s that are stable and detectable in the circulation. We aimed to investigate the association between hepatocyte‐derived micro RNA s in serum and liver injury in patients with chronic hepatitis C . The hepatocyte‐derived mi R ‐122 and mi R ‐192 were analysed in sera of 102 chronic HCV ‐infected patients and 24 healthy controls. Serum levels of mi R ‐122 and mi R ‐192 correlated strongly with ALT ( R = 0.67 and R = 0.65, respectively, P < 0.001 for both). Median levels of mi R ‐122 and mi R ‐192 in HCV ‐infected patients were 23 times and 8 times higher as in healthy controls ( P < 0.001 for both). Even within the HCV ‐infected patients with a normal ALT ( n = 38), the levels of mi R ‐122 and mi R ‐192 were 12 times and 4 times higher compared with healthy controls ( P < 0.001 for both). Multivariate logistic regression analyses showed that only mi R ‐122 was a significant predictor of the presence of chronic HCV infection ( P = 0.026). Importantly, mi R ‐122 was also superior in discriminating chronic HCV ‐infected patients with a normal ALT from healthy controls compared with the ALT level ( AUC = 0.97 vs AUC = 0.78, P = 0.007). In conclusion, our study confirmed that liver injury is associated with high levels of hepatocyte‐derived micro RNA s in circulation and demonstrated that in particular mi R ‐122 is a sensitive marker to distinguish chronic hepatitis C patients from healthy controls. More sensitive blood markers would benefit especially those patients with minor levels of hepatocellular injury, who are not identified by current screening with ALT testing.