Serum levels of miR-let۷a in hepatitis C

Background and Aim: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-sense single-stranded RNA virus which is the major cause of acute liver disease. It has been discovered that miR-let۷a works as a restriction factor for different stages of HCV life cycle and its altered expression levels have been observed in some stages of hepatitis C but it has not been evaluated in Iranian population. Therefore, we evaluated the serum levels of miR-let۷a in Iranian HCV infected patients compared to healthy ones.Methods: In this study, ۹۷ serum samples of HCV infected patients as a case group and ۹۷ serum samples of healthy subjects as a control group were used. After total RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis, real-time PCR was performed. The results were statistically analyzed with REST ۲۰۰۹ (v۲.۰.۱۳) to evaluate serum levels of miR-let۷a in the case group compared to the control group.Results: The serum levels of miR-let۷a had a significant decrease (fold change = ۰.۰۹۷) in HCV infected patients compared to the control group (P-value < ۰.۰۰۱). Conclusion: Since the serum levels of miR-let۷a in HCV infected patients showed a decrease compared to the healthy subjects, more studies are valuable to uncover possible roles of miR-let۷a in different stages of hepatitis C.

Keywords:

Hepatitis C/ Real-Time PCR/ MicroRNA/ miR-let۷a , human