Validation of a serum microRNA panel as biomarkers for early diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma post-hepatitis C infection in Egyptian patients

AIM To investigate the prospective importance of serum micro(mi)RNAs(mi R-125 b, mi R-138 b, mi R-1269, mi R-214-5p, mi R-494, mi R375 and mi R-145) as early biomarkers for the diagnosis of hepatitis C virus(HCV)-related hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).METHODS Two-hundred and fifty HCV4 a patients, 224 HCV4 aHCC patients, and 84 healthy controls were enrolled in the study. Expression levels of mi R214-5p, mi R-125 b, mi R-1269 and mi R-375 were quantified using quantitative real-time PCR.RESULTS Expression of the selected mi RNAs in serum wassignificantly lower in HCC patients than in the healthy controls, except for mi R-1269 and mi R-494. There was a significant difference between HCC and HCV patients, in particular for HCC and late stage fibrosis, rather than HCV patients and early fibrosis. It is obvious that mi R-1269 was significantly upregulated in HCC cases compared to hepatic fibrosis cases. Each mi RNA can show HCC progression. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that the tested panel of mi RNAs(mi R214-5p, mi R-125 b, mi R-1269 and mi R-375) represent accurate and specific indictors of HCC development.CONCLUSION This study presents a panel of mi RNAs with strong power as putative diagnostic and prognostic biomarkers for HCV-induced HCC. Moreover, mi R-214-5p and mi R-1269 could be considered as early biomarkers for tracking the progress of liver fibrosis to HCC.