Impact of circulating miR-122 for histological features and hepatocellular carcinoma of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease in Japan

• DOI: 10.1007/s12072-016-9729-2
• Publication Date: 2016-04-14T07:58:06Z
• Authors: Norio Akuta; Yusuke Kawamura; Fumitaka Suzuki; Satoshi Saitoh; Yasuji Arase; Hideo Kunimoto; Yushi Sorin; Shunichiro Fujiyama; Hitomi Sezaki; Tetsuya Hosaka; Masahiro Kobayashi; Yoshiyuki Suzuki; Mariko Kobayashi; Kenji Ikeda; Hiromitsu Kumada
• Keywords: Adult; Aged, 80 and over; Male; 0301 basic medicine; 0303 health sciences; Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; Liver Neoplasms; Middle Aged; 3. Good health; MicroRNAs; Young Adult; 03 medical and health sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Japan; Non-alcoholic Fatty Liver Disease; Humans; Female; Longitudinal Studies; Prospective Studies; Aged; Neoplasm Staging

Relationships between circulating microRNA-122 (miR-122) and histological features of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) are unclear.The impact of serum miR-122 levels for histological features and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) was investigated in 305 Japanese patients with histological proven NAFLD. Twenty-three patients were with HCC at the time of diagnosis of NAFLD, and four patients developed HCC during the follow-up. The cross-sectional or longitudinal evaluations were performed to investigate the impact for HCC.Serum miR-122 levels (calibrated relative to the median levels of patients) partly affected severity of steatosis, ballooning, lobular inflammation, and stage. Multivariate analysis identified HCC and/or histological components of NASH as morphological factors that independently influenced serum miR-122 levels at the diagnosis of NAFLD. There was a strong correlation between serum miR-122 levels and AST, ALT levels. In cross-sectional evaluation, serum miR-122 levels of patients without HCC were significantly higher than those with HCC in patients of stage 3 but not stage 4. In longitudinal evaluation of one patient with follow-up time of 25 years, from the diagnosis of NAFLD until HCC, serum miR-122 levels had already tended to decrease before the progression of fibrosis stage.HCC and/or histological components of NASH affected serum miR-122 levels, independently. In longitudinal evaluation of HCC patients, serum miR-122 levels had already tended to decrease before the progression of fibrosis stage. Further prospective studies are needed to investigate the impact of serum miR-122 for histological features and hepatocarcinogenesis of NAFLD.