Evaluation of Circulating MicroRNA-222 in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B virus Infection as a Potential Noninvasive Diagnostic Biomarker

 Circulating microRNAs have the potential to serve as biomarkers in diagnostics and monitoring of disease progression, including liver diseases. Therefore, this study investigated the alteration in the expression levels of microRNA-222 (miR-222) in patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) as a potential diagnostic biomarker.

 MiR-222 expression was analyzed in the 86 plasma samples, including 43 patients with CHB and 43 healthy individuals as a control group. RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis processes were done, and then the expression of the miR-222 was measured by qRT-PCR. The Mann-Whitney U-test Spearman analyzed the results to show the correlation between miR-222 and clinical parameters.

MiR-222 had a difference in expression levels between the patient and control groups (miRNA-222 Fold change= 1.384). Nevertheless, a statically significant difference was not observed (p value=0.269).

 Our study showed that even though changes in miR-222 expression levels in the group of patients with chronic hepatitis B compared to the healthy group, it could not be utilized as a precise diagnostic biomarker, and more studies, on a broader scale, are needed to determine the role of this microRNA in patients with CHB.