Serum miRNA Are Promising Biomarkers for the Detection of Early Hepatocellular Carcinoma after Treatment with Direct-Acting Antivirals.

ABSTRACT: Direct antiviral agents (DAAs) have excellent efficacy against chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection. Despite this strength, recent studies raised concerns about an unexpected hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) occurrence rate after DAA therapy. In this exploratory case-control study, we evaluated the potential use of miRNAs as serum biomarkers for the detection of early HCC in DAA-treated patients. In the discovery phase, the circulating miRNome was assessed in 10 matched patients with (HCC+) or without HCC (HCC-) occurrence. Microarray analysis was performed before (T0) and after one month of the DAA therapy (T1). MiRNAs discriminating HCC+ and HCC- patients were validated in 60 samples by means of RT-qPCR. We estimated the time-averaged difference of a given miRNA between HCC+ and HCC-

SUBMITTER: Pascut D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6895878 | biostudies-literature | 2019 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature