The relationships among micro RNA-122 (miR-122) expression in the liver, hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication and hepatic damage were analyzed in three chimpanzees observed for 180 days after inoculation with HCV genotype 1a. Levels of miR-122 in the liver and serum were measured by real-time RT PCR in serial liver biopsies and serum samples. Hepatic miR-122 levels were normalized separately for...

Mechanisms of hepatic carcinogenesis in chronic hepatitis B and hepatitis C are incompletely defined but often assumed to be similar and related to immune-mediated inflammation. Despite this, several studies hint at differences in expression of miR-122, a liver-specific microRNA with tumor suppressor properties, in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) associated with hepatitis B virus (HBV) versus he...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is an antioxidant defense and key cytoprotective enzyme, which is repressed by Bach1. Micro-RNA-122 (miR-122) is specifically expressed and highly abundant in human liver and required for replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA. This study was to assess whether a specific miR-122 antagomir down-regulates HCV protein replication and up-regulates HO-1....

Nocturnin is a circadian clock-regulated deadenylase thought to control mRNA expression post-transcriptionally through poly(A) tail removal. The expression of Nocturnin is robustly rhythmic in liver at both the mRNA and protein levels, and mice lacking Nocturnin are resistant to diet-induced obesity and hepatic steatosis. Here we report that Nocturnin expression is regulated by microRNA-122 (mi...

Many studies have shown that the pathogenesis of liver injury includes oxidative stress. MicroRNA-122 may be a marker for the early diagnosis of drug-induced liver injury. However, the relationship between microRNA-122 and oxidative stress in anti-tuberculosis drug-induced liver injury remains unknown. We measured changes in tissue microRNA-122 levels and indices of oxidative stress during live...

MicroRNA-122 (miR-122), which is expressed at high levels in hepatocytes, is selectively stabilized by 3'-adenylation mediated by the cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase GLD-2. Here, we report that poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN) is responsible for the deadenylation and destabilization of miR-122. The 3'-oligoadenylated variant of miR-122 was detected in Huh7 cells when PARN was down-regulated....

AIMS Liver-enriched microRNA-122 (miR-122) is a novel circulating biomarker for drug-induced liver injury (DILI). To date, miR-122 has been measured in serum or plasma venous samples. If miR-122 could be measured in capillary blood obtained from a finger prick it would facilitate point-of-care testing, such as in resource-limited settings that have a high burden of DILI. METHODS In this study...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the orchestration of diverse cellular processes including differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis and are believed to play pivotal roles as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. miR-122, a liver specific miRNA, is significantly down-regulated in most hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) but its role in tumorigenesis remains poorly understood. Here we iden...