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MiRNAs: EMERGING DIAGNOSTIC AND THERAPEUTIC TARGETS FOR HEPATITIS C VIRUS-ASSOCIATED DISEASES

AMIN ULLAH 1,3, IRSHAD UR REHMAN 2, MARGARETE ODENTHAL 3, TARIQ NADEEM 4, QURBAN ALI 5*, MOHD AMIR 6, AJAZ AHMAD 7, AMAN ULLAH 8

1Department of Allied Health Science, Iqra National University Peshawar, 25000 Peshawar, Pakistan
2 Centre for Biotechnology and Microbiology, University of Peshawar, 25000 Peshawar, Pakistan
3 Institute of Pathology, University Hospital of Cologne, 50926 Cologne, Germany
4 Centre of Excellence in Molecular Biology, University of the Punjab Lahore, Lahore, Pakistan
5 Department of Plant Breeding & Genetics, Faculty of Agriculture Sciences, University of the Punjab, P.O. Box 54590, Lahore, Pakistan
6 Department of Natural Products, College of Clinical Pharmacy, Imam Abdulrahman Bin Faisal University, Dammam, 1982, Saudi Arabia
7 Department of Clinical Pharmacy, College of Pharmacy, King Saud University, 11451 Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
8 Rehman college of allied health sciences, Rehman medical institute (RMI) Peshawar, 25000 Peshawar, Pakistan

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The Hepatitis C virus is the causative agent of several diseases including chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, and it infects millions of people worldwide. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are a family of small noncoding RNAs with the ability to control gene expression through the alteration of the posttranscriptional silencing of target genes. These miRNAs can be detected in viruses, plants and animals. They are involved in the alteration of physiological responses and have been utilised in the clinical diagnosis and treatment of a large number of diseases. Alterations in miRNA expression are linked to the deregulation of liver metabolism, liver damage, fibrosis and tumour growth; factors that make miRNAs appealing therapeutic methods for detecting and treating liver illnesses. Several miRNA biomarkers have recently been identified from serum or tissue samples from patients with infectious diseases. However, their specificity related to clinical and pathological applications has not been well characterised. In case of hepatitis C virus infection, various microRNAs are upregulated, such as miR-155, miR-296, miR-122 and miR-351, while miR-221, miR-222 and miR-181 are downregulated. We explore the role of circulating microRNAs in hepatitis C liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma. Specifically, microRNA-122 plays a crucial role in HCV replication and is a potential therapeutic target. Understanding the significance of microRNAs in liver diseases may lead to novel diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.