Abstract 3959: microRNA as a potential biomarker for hepatitis C virus mediated end-stage liver disease progression

Abstract

Abstract HCV accounts for the most frequent cause of end stage liver disease–including hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and liver transplantation in the western world. Since HCV-mediated end stage liver diseases are diagnosed much later after infection, identifying the HCV infected individuals at high risk for developing HCC will permit surveillance, early detection and chemoprevention. Liver biopsy or Fibroscan (often used now) has major limitations. Moreover, neither liver biopsy nor fibroscan can predict who will progress to more severe disease. The relationship between HCV infection and microRNA (miRNA) expression is of considerable interest in understanding liver disease progression to HCC. In this present study, we performed a systematic screening approach to identify upregulated miRNAs in the plasma/serum of HCV infected patients with different stages of hepatic histological disease severity. We initially screened serum samples of HCV infected patients with fibrosis and compared with sera of healthy volunteers using serum miRNA array profiling, and identified a group of modulated miRNAs. Subsequent study demonstrated that miR-20a in HCV infected fibrosis and HCC patients sera were significantly upregulated when compared with that of healthy volunteers or non-HCV associated liver disease. However, there was no correlation between the serum levels of miR-20a with HCV viral loads. We next investigated longitudinal plasma samples from HCV-infected patients. Our results suggested that miR-20a remained unaltered in HCV-infected patients who progressed from acute to chronic infection. These data provide evidence that plasma/serum level of miR-20a has potential as sensitive and cost-effective biomarkers for early detection of HCV mediated liver disease. Conclusion: The circulating miR-20a may serve as a potential for predictive biomarker in HCV mediated end stage liver disease. Citation Format: Ratna B. Ray. microRNA as a potential biomarker for hepatitis C virus mediated end-stage liver disease progression. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the 106th Annual Meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research; 2015 Apr 18-22; Philadelphia, PA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2015;75(15 Suppl):Abstract nr 3959. doi:10.1158/1538-7445.AM2015-3959