Clinical impact of serum exosomal microRNA in liver fibrosis.

Abstract

Background/aimWe investigated alterations in the expression of serum exosomal miRNAs with the progression of liver fibrosis and evaluated their clinical applicability as biomarkers.MethodsThis study prospectively enrolled 71 patients who underwent liver biopsy at an academic hospital in Korea. Exosomes were extracted from serum samples, followed by next-generation sequencing (NGS) of miRNAs and targeted real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction. A model was derived to discriminate advanced fibrosis based on miRNA levels and the performance of this model was evaluated. Validation of the effect of miRNA on liver fibrosis in vitro was followed.ResultsNGS data revealed that exosomal miR-660-5p, miR-125a-5p, and miR-122 expression were changed significantly with the progression of liver fibrosis, of which miR-122 exhibited high read counts enough to be used as a biomarker. The level of exosomal miR-122 decreased as the pathologic fibrosis grade progressed and patients with biopsy-proven advanced fibrosis had significantly lower levels of exosomal miR-122 (P ConclusionExosomal miR-122 may serve as a useful non-invasive biomarker for liver fibrosis, especially in patients with non-viral etiologies of chronic liver disease.