Establishment Of Platform For Quantifying Mirnas In Clinical Serum Samples And The Application In Diagnosis Of Liver-related Disease

Background/Aims: miRNAs are a class of non-coding small RNA, with a length of 20-24 nt. The translation of target mRNA gene could be inhibited by incomplete pair to the 3' UTR of target gene, and thus influencing individual development, cell apoptosis, proliferation and differentiation, and closely related to other pathological processes, such as tumorigenesis, metastasis and drug resistance. Recently studies showed that, serum miRNA are in accordance with disease diagnostic markers. It also plays an important role in liver-related diseases. This study analyzed the differential expression in serum miRNA of patients with poison-induced liver injury, hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatitis B.Methods:Real-time PCR was employed to analyze differential expression of 101 patients serum samples( normal serum, poison-induced liver injury, hepatocellualr carcinoma, and hepatitis B).Results:A reliable and effective quantitative method for serum miRNA was established. We found that miR-122 is up-regulated in serum of patients with poison-induced liver injury, and when ALT > 600 U / L, the fold change of miR-122 is positively correlated with serum ALT value. For serum of hepatocellular carcinoma, there is no regular change between serum ALT levels and miR-122, and 10.2% of patients in which miR-122 is down-regulated. Also, there is no regular change between serum ALT levels and miR-122 for patients with hepatitis B, and 38.9% of patients in which miR-122 is down-regulated.Conclusion: miR-122 plays an important role in liver and may be involved in the development of related diseases, via studying serum miR-122 in patients with poison-induced liver injury, hepatocellular carcinoma and hepatitis B. It expands the understanding of biological mechanisms for liver-related diseases, and provides basis for miRNA target therapy of liver-related diseases in the future.