Ukr.Biochem.J. 2024; Volume 96, Issue 4, Jul-Aug, pp. 69-78

doi: https://doi.org/10.15407/ubj96.04.069

MiR-378a-3p and miR-181b-5p as nonalcoholic steatohepatitis non-invasive diagnostic biomarkers and their correlations with liver fibrosis

26.07.2024   Uncategorized   No comments

T. I. Ahmed1, E. Mamdouh2, N. R. Ismael2, O. O. Abdelaleem3*,
N. F. Hemeda4, M. A. Hegazy5, R. A. Ali1

1Departments of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt;
2Departments of Zoology, Faculty of Science, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt;
3Departments of Medical Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Faculty of Medicine, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt;
4Department of Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture, Fayoum University, Fayoum, Egypt;
5Departments of Internal Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
*e-mail: dr.omayma@yahoo.com

Received: 24 March 2024; Revised: 09 May 2024;
Accepted: 25 July 2024; Available on-line: 04 September 2024

Nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is one of the most common liver diseases that is diagnosed by biopsy and, therefore, requires the development of non-invasive tests for diagnosis. Serum levels of microRNAs were shown to correlate with the severity of various liver diseases, but the role of miR-378a and miR-181b-5p in NASH remains unclear. The current study aims to assess the serum expression level of miR-378a-3p and miR-181b-5p in patients with NASH and to find out the correlation of these indices with liver fibrosis. The case-control research was carried out on 60 patients with confirmed NASH relative to 50 healthy subjects. Extraction and reverse transcription of micro RNAs was performed using miRCURY LNA RT Kit (Qiagen, Maryland, USA) Detection of miR-378a-3p and miR-181b-5p was done using qPCR. It was shown that serum expression level of miR-378a-3p in NASH patients was downregulated with a median range fold change 0.29, while that of miR-181b-5p was upregulated with a median range fold change 13.08. The ROC curve was constructed to discriminate the NASH group from the healthy group. The optimal cut-off value of miR-378a-3p was ≤0.031 with a sensitivity of 65%, the optimal cut-off value of miR-181b-5p was ≥ 0.063 with a sensitivity of 93.3%. Statistically significant positive correlation between miR-181b-5p level and fibroscan data was demonstrated. The present study showed that serum miR-378a-3p and miR-181b-5p could be used as biomarkers of NASH.

Keywords: , , ,

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