microRNA in Patients with Hepatitis B and Hepatitis C Virus Associated Hepatocellular Carcinoma and Cirrhosis

Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine the potentials of hsa-microRNAs (miRNA)-21-3p, hsa-miRNA-29a-3p, hsa-miRNA-122-3p, hsa-miRNA-192-5p in Hepatitis B (HBV) and HCV related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and liver cirrhosis (LC) cases, being biomarkers by examining their levels. Materials and Methods: Sixty patients and 26 healthy volunteers were included in the study. Total RNA isolation in the serum samples was performed with the Direct-zolTM RNA MiniPrep (Zymo Research Corp., USA) commercial kit followed by cDNA synthesis and real-time polymerase chain reaction amplification with EPIK miRNA Select Hi/Lo-ROX (Bioline Reagents Ltd., USA). For amplification and analysis, Rotor-Gene Q (QIAGEN, Germany) instrument was used and statistical analyzes were performed with SPSS 21 (IBM, USA) program. Results: Hsa-miRNA-21-3p and hsa-miRNA-122-3p levels increased 3-4 fold in patients without HCV related LC (HCV-LC) and hsa-miRNA- 29a-3p expression in HCV infected patients has significantly decreased (p