Changes of miR-199a and miR-196b expression levels in blood donors suffering from asymptomatic hepatitis C

Hepatitis C virus is the main cause of hepatitis C infection that usually has no symptoms at early stages. Studies have shown changes in the expression level of microRNAs in various diseases such as hepatitis. MiR-199a and miR-196b have an inhibitory effect on hepatitis C virus. In a recent study, we examined the expression levels of miR-199a and miR-196b in serum samples of asymptomatic hepatitis C infected blood donors in comparison to serum samples of healthy blood donors; based on the results, the importance of microRNAs in different stages of hepatitis C infection was evaluated.

In this case control study, first total RNA extraction from 106 serum samples of healthy blood donors (control group) and 106 serum samples of asymptomatic hepatitis C infected blood donors (case group) was carried out. After cDNA synthesis, the expression level of miR-199a and miR-196b were evaluated by SYBR Green real-time PCR, and the results were analyzed by REST 2009 software.

Expression level of miR-196b in the case group compared to the control group was lower (p  0.001). No statistically significant difference was observed in the expression level of miR-199a between the two groups.

Conclusions  

With regard to lower expression level of miR-196b, and given no significant difference of miR-199a expression level in the case group in comparison to the control group, future studies on the role of miR-196b in this disease are required.