MicroRNA profile analysis in the liver fibrotic tissues of chronic hepatitis B patients

OBJECTIVE The miRNAs play an important role in the development of human fibrosis diseases. However, the mechanisms of miRNA related to liver fibrosis are not fully exploited. Our study aims to identify the miRNAs features during fibrotic stage S0 to S4,which would be associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) related liver fibrosis. METHED Liver tissues were collected from 40 chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients with fibrotic from stage S0 to S4. Microarray of miRNA and genomic informatics analysis were performed. RESULT A total of 105 miRNAs were found differentially expressed in either fibrotic tissues (S1-4 groups) comparing to no fibrotic tissues (S0 group; p  2 and p<0.05). Five miRNAs had signature correlation with serum biochemical parameter and hepatic inflammatory level. The ROC showed some miRNAs have excellent value in diagnosis, even better than FIB-4 and APRI. A total of 6 miRNAs had AUROC of more than 0.8 , meanwhile hsa-miR-214-3p had the highest AUROC(0.867).Gene ontology (GO) functions of differential miRNAs mainly involved in cellular process, developmental process, localization, biological regulation, binding, transcriptional regulator and organelle. It revealed 23 novel signaling pathways dysregulated in liver fibrosis of CHB patients. CONCLUSION A miRNA profile signature, including 17 differential miRNAs and 23 dysregulated signaling pathways, was identified associated with liver fibrosis. Hepatic inflammatory scores correlated with the differential miRNAs. Some miRNAs had excellent value for diagnosis of liver fibrosis.