Department of Medicine 1, Klinikum der Goethe-Universität, Frankfurt, Germany.
PLoS One. 2012;7(9):e45652. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0045652. Epub 2012 Sep 28.
Liver cirrhosis is associated with high morbidity and mortality. MicroRNAs (miRs) circulating in the blood are an emerging new class of biomarkers. In particular, the serum level of the liver-specific miR-122 might be a clinically useful new parameter in patients with acute or chronic liver disease.
Here we investigated if the serum level of miR-122 might be a prognostic parameter in patients with liver cirrhosis.
107 patients with liver cirrhosis in the test cohort and 143 patients in the validation cohort were prospectively enrolled into the present study. RNA was extracted from the sera obtained at the time of study enrollment and the level of miR-122 was assessed. Serum miR-122 levels were assessed by quantitative reverse-transcription PCR (RT-PCR) and were compared to overall survival time and to different complications of liver cirrhosis.
Serum miR-122 levels were reduced in patients with hepatic decompensation in comparison to patients with compensated liver disease. Patients with ascites, spontaneous bacterial peritonitis and hepatorenal syndrome had significantly lower miR-122 levels than patients without these complications. Multivariate Cox regression analysis revealed that the miR-122 serum levels were associated with survival independently from the MELD score, sex and age.
Serum miR-122 is a new independent marker for prediction of survival of patients with liver cirrhosis.
肝硬化与高发病率和死亡率相关。在血液中循环的 microRNAs（miRs）是一类新兴的生物标志物。特别是，血清中肝脏特异性 miR-122 的水平可能是急性或慢性肝病患者的一个有用的新参数。
本研究旨在探讨血清 miR-122 水平是否可以作为肝硬化患者的预后参数。
本研究前瞻性纳入了 107 例试验队列和 143 例验证队列的肝硬化患者。在研究入组时采集血清并提取 RNA，检测 miR-122 的水平。采用定量逆转录 PCR（RT-PCR）检测血清 miR-122 水平，并与总生存时间以及肝硬化的不同并发症进行比较。
与代偿性肝病患者相比，肝功能失代偿的患者血清 miR-122 水平降低。有腹水、自发性细菌性腹膜炎和肝肾综合征的患者血清 miR-122 水平明显低于无这些并发症的患者。多因素 Cox 回归分析显示，miR-122 血清水平与生存独立相关，与 MELD 评分、性别和年龄无关。
血清 miR-122 是预测肝硬化患者生存的一个新的独立标志物。
