The expression of microRNAs in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells of the patients with hepatitis B virus infection / 中华传染病杂志

ABSTRACT

Objective To investigate the expressions of microRNAs (miRNA) and cytokines in the peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) of patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and analyze their relationship with inflammation. Methods PBMCs were collected from acute hapatitis B (AHB) patients of 3 groups, including acute episode, virus clearance, recover period, and chronic hepatitis B (CHB) of mild, medium, severe type, and HBV-related liver cirrhosis. Each group included 20 patients, and 17 healthy donors were as control. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction was used to measure miRNA146, miRNA155, miRNA181, interferon (IFN)-α, IFN-β,interferon induced gene 54 (ISG54) and interferon regulate factor 5 (IRF5). Comparisons among groups were done by one factor analysis of variance. Results The expression of miRNA155 was high in acute episode of AHB (2. 386± 1. 835), and higher than healthy control (1. 498± 1. 276) (F=1. 137,P-=0. 045), while reduced in acute episode, virus clearance (1. 633±2. 291), and recover period (0. 642±0. 836) (F=2. 122,P=0. 022). The expressions of IFN-α and IFN-β in AHB reduced in acute episode, virus clearance and recover period ( F = 1. 880, P = 0. 038 ; F= 1. 835, P = 0. 048).The expression of miRNA155 in AHB is closely correlated with IFN-α and IFN-β (r = 0. 483, P=0. 004; r= 0. 660, P= 0. 0002, respectively). In addition, in HBV infectious patients, the expression of miRNA155 was correlated with alanine transarninase (ALT), serum bilirubin (TBil) (r=0. 342,P=0. 006; r=0. 322, P= 0. 011, respectively), but not with HBV DNA load. Compared with healthy control (1. 307+ 0. 935), miRNA181 was higher in patients with HBV infection (F= 2. 072, P=0. 045) except AHB in recover period (1. 873±0. 998). There was no statistical difference in the miRNA146 expression between various groups. Conclusions The exprossion of miRNAs might be involved in the host anti-HBV immune response during HBV infection, and closely correlated with expression of IFN-related immune factors.