This study suggests a correlation between the tissue expression of hsa-miR-125a-5p and the progression of liver damage in a group of patients with occult or overt HBV infection.
Serum also contains microRNAs, a class of small non-coding RNAs that play an important role in regulating gene expression. miR-122 is specific to the liver and correlates strongly with liver enzyme levels and necroinflammatory activity, and other microRNAs are correlated with the degree of fibrosis. miR-122 has also been found to be required for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, whereas other microRNAs have been shown to play antiviral roles. miR-125a-5p and miR-1231 have been shown to directly target hepatitis B virus (HBV) transcripts, and others are up- or down-regulated in infected individuals.
These findings suggest that delivery of microRNA-125a mimics or treatments that modulate its cellular expression may be valuable tools for the development of new therapeutic strategies for human diseases, including cancer and viral hepatitis B.