Devhare Pradip B, Steele Robert, Di Bisceglie Adrian M, Kaplan David E, Ray Ratna B
Gene Expr. 2017 Feb 10;17(2):89-98. doi: 10.3727/105221616X693594. Epub 2016 Oct 19.
African Americans (AAs) have higher hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) mortality rates than Caucasian Americans (CAs). Chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection leads to cirrhosis and HCC. HCV infection is highly prevalent in the AA population compared to other racial groups. AAs are also less likely to naturally clear HCV, potentially contributing to higher prevalence of HCV. However, the explanation for this disparity is currently unknown. Circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) in the blood are emerging as biomarkers for pathological conditions. Expression analysis of miRNAs in major racial groups would be important for optimizing personalized treatment strategies. Here we assessed the differential expression of circulatory miRNAs from HCV-infected AA and CA patients. We identified increased expression of miR-146a, miR-150, and miR-155 in HCV-infected AA patient sera compared to that of CA. Further analysis demonstrated that these miRNAs were significantly elevated in AA patients diagnosed with HCV-mediated HCC. Higher expression of miR-150 was also noted in cirrhosis and HCC in AA patients, which may serve as a predictor of liver disease progression in this population. The differential expression of miRNAs suggests that these miRNAs and their target genes could be useful to gain further mechanistic insight of racial disparity associated with HCV-mediated pathogenesis.
非裔美国人（AAs）的肝细胞癌（HCC）死亡率高于美国白人（CAs）。慢性丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）感染会导致肝硬化和HCC。与其他种族群体相比，HCV感染在非裔美国人中极为普遍。非裔美国人自然清除HCV的可能性也较小，这可能导致HCV患病率较高。然而，目前尚不清楚这种差异的原因。血液中的循环微RNA（miRNAs）正在成为病理状况的生物标志物。对主要种族群体中的miRNAs进行表达分析对于优化个性化治疗策略至关重要。在此，我们评估了HCV感染的非裔美国人和美国白人患者循环miRNAs的差异表达。我们发现，与美国白人患者相比，HCV感染的非裔美国人患者血清中miR-146a、miR-150和miR-155的表达增加。进一步分析表明，在被诊断为HCV介导的HCC的非裔美国人患者中，这些miRNAs显著升高。在非裔美国人患者的肝硬化和HCC中也发现miR-150表达较高，这可能作为该人群肝病进展的预测指标。miRNAs的差异表达表明，这些miRNAs及其靶基因可能有助于进一步深入了解与HCV介导的发病机制相关的种族差异。
