Epigenetic Modulation in Viral Hepatitis C Infected Patients after Successful Therapy

Abstract

Nowadays, hepatitis C-virus (HCV) represents a challenging liver condition for infected patients and health care systems worldwide. Thus, identifying new biomarkers for early diagnosis and therapy response prediction should be prioritized. Our study aims to identify new epigenetic markers in patients with HCV infection before and after successful direct-acting agents therapy (DAA) and correlate them with standard diagnostic tools. We analyzed blood samples from 12 healthy volunteers and 22 HCV infected patients, before and 3 months after DAA, by assessing: liver transaminases, alpha-fetoprotein, cryoglobulinemia, miR-7-1-3p, miR-21-3p, miR122-5p, miR-885-5p, miR-16-5p, and liver fibrosis (FibroScan®). The study groups were Ctrl (Control group), HCV (HCV infected patients before therapy), and SVR (sustained viral response group). miR-7-1-3p was up-regulated in SVR compared to HCV. No difference was observed between Ctrl and HCV. MiR-21-3p was up-regulated in SVR compared to Ctrl. MiR-122-5p was up-regulated in both, HCV and SVR groups, while miR-885-5p was up-regulated in HCV and down-regulated in SVR group. Moreover, miR-122-5p and miR-885-5p were correlated with liver cytolysis. Our results revealed an innovative panel of epigenetic biomarkers in the early stage of HCV infection and its variation after successful DAA therapy.