Analysis of Carcinogenic Involvement of MicroRNA Pattern in Peripheral Non-Cancerous Tissues and Chronic Viral Liver Injury

Abstract

Risk factors for hepatocarcinogenesis include chronic inflammation due to viral infection, liver fibrosis, and aging. In this study, we separated carcinogenic and non-carcinogenic cases due to hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, aiming to comprehensively analyze miRNA expression in liver tissues by age, and identify factors that contribute to carcinogenesis. Total RNA was extracted from 360 chronic hepatitis C (CH), 43 HCV infected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and surrounding non-tumor (SNT) tissues. MicroRNA (miRNA) expression patterns were analyzed using microarray. Using machine learning, we extracted characteristic miRNA expression patterns for each disease and age. There were no age-dependent changes in miRNA expression in the disease-specific comparisons; however, miRNA expression differed among the age groups of 50, 60, and 70 years of age between CH and SNT. The expression of miRNA was different between SNT and HCC only in patients in their 70s. Of the 55 miRNAs with significant differences in expression between CH and SNT, 34 miRNAs showed significant differences in expression even in the degree of liver fibrosis. The observation that miRNAs involved in hepatocarcinogenesis differ at different ages suggests that the mechanisms of carcinogenesis differ by age group as well. We also found that many miRNAs whose expression did not affect liver fibrosis were involved in carcinogenesis. These findings are expected to define biomarkers for detection of HCC at early stage, and develop novel therapeutic targets for HCC.