Circulating microRNA-122 as a potential biomarker for Hepatitis C Virus-Induced Hepatocellular Carcinoma

The features of translational repression by micro-RNA can cause various diseases in humans. The liver-specific microRNA (mir122) is primarily involved in tissue tropism during HCV infection. This study focuses on evaluating host serum miR-122 as a prognostic marker in HCV infection. A positive expression of miR-122 was observed in CHC patients followed by HCC patients compared to healthy controls. A difference in median levels of miR-122 expression in CHC and HCC patients (p < 0.000) was found in contrast to Cirrhosis patients (p = 0.511). The serum miR-122 expression was found threefold higher in liver cirrhosis patients than chronic hepatitis. Further, the AUROC analysis of miR-122 expression profile can efficiently distinguish CHC patients (AUROC = 0.978, p = 0.000, 95% CI = 0.958 to 0.998) and HCC from healthy controls (AUROC = 0.971, p = 0.000, 95% CI = 0.944 to 0.997). Moreover, ROC curve analysis significantly distinguished between CHC patients from Cirrhosis patients (AUROC = 0.955, p = 0.000, 95% CI = 0.925 to 0.986) but not CHC from HCC patients (AUROC = 0.584, p = 0.104, 95% CI = 0.485 to 0.684). This study revealed a substantial correlation of miR-122 with HCV viral load (r = 0.56, p = 0.000), ALT (r = 0.67, p = 0.000) and AST (r = 0.65, p = 0.000) levels. Serum miR-122 can potentially serve as a promising prognostic tool for HCV induced HCC.