Blood and Tissue Bank of Catalonia (Banc de Sang i Teixits de Catalunya), Transfusion Safety Laboratory, Barcelona, Spain.
Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas (CIBEREhd), Instituto de Salud Carlos III, Madrid, Spain.
Microbiol Spectr. 2023 Feb 14;11(1):e0466422. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.04664-22. Epub 2023 Jan 25.
The pathogenic mechanisms determining the diverse clinical outcomes of HEV infection (e.g., self-limiting versus chronic or symptomatic versus asymptomatic) are not yet understood. Because specific microRNA signatures during viral infection inform the cellular processes involved in virus replication and pathogenesis, we investigated plasma microRNA profiles in 44 subjects, including patients with symptomatic acute (AHE, = 7) and chronic (CHE, = 6) hepatitis E, blood donors with asymptomatic infection (HEV BDs, = 9), and anti-HEV IgG IgM (exposed BDs, = 10) and anti-HEV IgG IgM (naive BDs, = 12) healthy blood donors. By measuring the abundance of 179 microRNAs in AHE patients and naive BDs by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR), we identified 51 potential HEV-regulated microRNAs ( value adjusted for multiple testing by the Benjamini-Hochberg correction [] < 0.05). Further analysis showed that HEV genotype 3 infection is associated with miR-122, miR-194, miR-885, and miR-30a upregulation and miR-221, miR-223, and miR-27a downregulation. AHE patients showed significantly higher levels of miR-122 and miR-194 and lower levels of miR-221, miR-27a, and miR-335 than HEV BDs. This specific microRNA signature in AHE could promote virus replication and reduce antiviral immune responses, contributing to the development of clinical symptoms. We found that miR-194, miR-335, and miR-221 can discriminate between asymptomatic HEV infections and those developing acute symptoms, whereas miR-335 correctly classifies AHE and CHE patients. Our data suggest that diverse outcomes of HEV infection result from different HEV-induced microRNA dysregulations. The specific microRNA signatures described offer novel information that may serve to develop biomarkers of HEV infection outcomes and improve our understanding of HEV pathogenesis, which may facilitate the identification of antiviral targets. There is increasing evidence that viruses dysregulate the expression and/or secretion of microRNAs to promote viral replication, immune evasion, and pathogenesis. In this study, we evaluated the change in microRNA abundance in patients with acute or chronic HEV infection and asymptomatic HEV-infected blood donors. Our results suggest that different HEV-induced microRNA dysregulations may contribute to the diverse clinical manifestations of HEV infection. The specific microRNA signatures identified in this study hold potential as predictive markers of HEV infection outcomes, which would improve the clinical management of hepatitis E patients, particularly of those developing severe symptoms or chronic infections. Furthermore, this study provides new insights into HEV pathogenesis that may serve to identify antiviral targets, which would have a major impact because no effective treatments are yet available.
戊型肝炎病毒(HEV)感染的不同临床结局(如自限性与慢性或有症状与无症状)的致病机制尚不清楚。由于病毒感染过程中的特定 microRNA 特征可反映参与病毒复制和发病机制的细胞过程,我们在 44 名受试者中研究了血浆 microRNA 谱,包括急性(AHE,n = 7)和慢性(CHE,n = 6)HEV 肝炎患者、无症状感染的献血者(HEV BD,n = 9)以及抗-HEV IgG IgM(既往暴露 BD,n = 10)和抗-HEV IgG IgM(无既往感染 BD,n = 12)健康献血者。通过逆转录定量 PCR(RT-qPCR)测量 AHE 患者和无既往感染 BD 中 179 种 microRNA 的丰度,我们鉴定出 51 种可能受 HEV 调控的 microRNA(校正多重检验的 Benjamini-Hochberg 值 [] < 0.05)。进一步分析显示,HEV 基因型 3 感染与 miR-122、miR-194、miR-885 和 miR-30a 的上调以及 miR-221、miR-223 和 miR-27a 的下调相关。AHE 患者的 miR-122 和 miR-194 水平显著高于 HEV BD,而 miR-221、miR-27a 和 miR-335 水平则显著低于 HEV BD。AHE 中的这种特定 microRNA 特征可能促进病毒复制并降低抗病毒免疫反应,从而导致临床症状的发展。我们发现 miR-194、miR-335 和 miR-221 可区分无症状 HEV 感染与出现急性症状的感染,而 miR-335 可正确区分 AHE 和 CHE 患者。我们的数据表明,HEV 感染的不同结局是由不同的 HEV 诱导的 microRNA 失调导致的。所描述的特定 microRNA 特征提供了新的信息,可能有助于开发 HEV 感染结局的生物标志物,并加深我们对 HEV 发病机制的理解,从而有助于鉴定抗病毒靶点。越来越多的证据表明,病毒会扰乱 microRNA 的表达和/或分泌,以促进病毒复制、免疫逃逸和发病机制。在这项研究中,我们评估了急性或慢性 HEV 感染患者和无症状 HEV 感染献血者中 microRNA 丰度的变化。我们的结果表明,不同的 HEV 诱导的 microRNA 失调可能导致 HEV 感染的不同临床表现。本研究中鉴定的特定 microRNA 特征可能作为 HEV 感染结局的预测标志物,这将改善戊型肝炎患者的临床管理,特别是那些出现严重症状或慢性感染的患者。此外,本研究为 HEV 发病机制提供了新的见解,有助于鉴定抗病毒靶点,这将产生重大影响,因为目前尚无有效的治疗方法。