PLoS ONE (Jan 2015)

Circulating microRNA Profiles in Patients with Type-1 Autoimmune Hepatitis.

  • Kiyoshi Migita,
  • Atsumasa Komori,
  • Hideko Kozuru,
  • Yuka Jiuchi,
  • Minoru Nakamura,
  • Michio Yasunami,
  • Hiroshi Furukawa,
  • Seigo Abiru,
  • Kazumi Yamasaki,
  • Shinya Nagaoka,
  • Satoru Hashimoto,
  • Shigemune Bekki,
  • Hiroshi Kamitsukasa,
  • Yoko Nakamura,
  • Hajime Ohta,
  • Masaaki Shimada,
  • Hironao Takahashi,
  • Eiji Mita,
  • Taizo Hijioka,
  • Haruhiro Yamashita,
  • Hiroshi Kouno,
  • Makoto Nakamuta,
  • Keisuke Ario,
  • Toyokichi Muro,
  • Hironori Sakai,
  • Kazuhiro Sugi,
  • Hideo Nishimura,
  • Kaname Yoshizawa,
  • Takeaki Sato,
  • Atsushi Naganuma,
  • Tatsuji Komatsu,
  • Yukio Oohara,
  • Fujio Makita,
  • Minoru Tomizawa,
  • Hiroshi Yatsuhashi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0136908
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 10, no. 11
p. e0136908

Abstract

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Recent studies have demonstrated that micro (mi)RNA molecules can be detected in the circulation and can serve as potential biomarkers of various diseases. This study used microarray analysis to identify aberrantly expressed circulating miRNAs in patients with type 1 autoimmune hepatitis (AIH) compared with healthy controls. Patients with well-documented and untreated AIH were selected from the National Hospital Organization (NHO)-AIH-liver-network database. They underwent blood sampling and liver biopsy with inflammation grading and fibrosis staging before receiving treatment. To further confirm the microarray data, circulating expression levels of miR-21 and miR-122 were quantified by real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction in 46 AIH patients, 40 patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC), and 13 healthy controls. Consistent with the microarray data, serum levels of miR-21 were significantly elevated in AIH patients compared with CHC patients and healthy controls. miR-21 and miR-122 serum levels correlated with alanine aminotransferase levels. Circulating levels of miR-21 and miR-122 were significantly reduced in AIH patients with liver cirrhosis, and were inversely correlated with increased stages of fibrosis. By contrast, levels of circulating miR-21 showed a significant correlation with the histological grades of inflammation in AIH. We postulate that aberrantly expressed serum miRNAs are potential biomarkers of AIH and could be implicated in AIH pathogenesis. Alternations of miR-21 and miR-122 serum levels could reflect their putative roles in the mediation of inflammatory processes in AIH.