Open Access

Identification of miR-4793-3p as a potential biomarker for bacterial infection in patients with hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis: A pilot study

  • Authors:
    • Shenglong Lin
    • Minghua Lin
    • Huaxi Ma
    • Xiangmei Wang
    • Dongqing Zhang
    • Wenjun Wu
    • Jiahuang Lin
    • Haibing Gao
  • View Affiliations

  • Published online on: December 3, 2020     https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.9552
  • Article Number: 120
  • Copyright: © Lin et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

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Abstract

Hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis (HBV-LC) is susceptible to bacterial infections, which could lead to adverse prognosis in patients. MicroRNAs (miRs/miRNAs) are easily detected in peripheral blood and are involved in multiple liver diseases. The present pilot study aimed to investigate differentially expressed (DE) miRNAs in the serum of patients with HBV-LC and bacterial infection, and to identify potential biomarkers. The first batch of clinical samples was collected, including four patients with HBV-LC and infection, four patients with HBV-LC without infection, four patients with chronic hepatitis B (CHB) and four healthy controls. miRNA expression was analyzed by Affymetrix GeneChip miRNA 4.0 Array. A total of 385 DE miRNAs (upregulated, 160; downregulated, 225) were detected in patients with HBV-LC and infection compared with patients with HBV-LC without infection. miR-4793-3p was significantly upregulated in patients with HBV-LC and infection compared with its levels in the other three groups: HBV-LC without infection [log-transformed fold change (logFC)=7.96; P=0.0458), CHB (logFC=34.53; P=0.0003) and healthy controls (logFC=3.34; P=0.0219)]. Reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) was performed to validate miR-4793-3p expression in another batch of clinical samples. RT-qPCR showed that miR-4793-3p was highly expressed in patients with HBV-LC and infection compared with its levels in patients with HBV-LC without infection (P<0.05). The non-parametric random forest regression model was built to access the diagnostic value of miR-4793-3p, and the receiver operating characteristic curve demonstrated that the area under the curve was 92.2%. Target gene analysis with bioinformatics tools and Gene Expression Omnibus data (GSE46955) showed that miR-4793-3p could participate in the TGF-β signaling pathway. Functional experiments revealed that overexpressed miR-4793-3p could impair TGF-β function by downregulating Gremlin-1. The present pilot study suggests that miR-4793-3p could be a feasible indicator for bacterial infection in patients with HBV-LC, and it would be valuable for further research.
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February-2021
Volume 21 Issue 2

Print ISSN: 1792-0981
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Spandidos Publications style
Lin S, Lin M, Ma H, Wang X, Zhang D, Wu W, Lin J and Gao H: Identification of miR-4793-3p as a potential biomarker for bacterial infection in patients with hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis: A pilot study. Exp Ther Med 21: 120, 2021
APA
Lin, S., Lin, M., Ma, H., Wang, X., Zhang, D., Wu, W. ... Gao, H. (2021). Identification of miR-4793-3p as a potential biomarker for bacterial infection in patients with hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis: A pilot study. Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine, 21, 120. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.9552
MLA
Lin, S., Lin, M., Ma, H., Wang, X., Zhang, D., Wu, W., Lin, J., Gao, H."Identification of miR-4793-3p as a potential biomarker for bacterial infection in patients with hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis: A pilot study". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 21.2 (2021): 120.
Chicago
Lin, S., Lin, M., Ma, H., Wang, X., Zhang, D., Wu, W., Lin, J., Gao, H."Identification of miR-4793-3p as a potential biomarker for bacterial infection in patients with hepatitis B virus-related liver cirrhosis: A pilot study". Experimental and Therapeutic Medicine 21, no. 2 (2021): 120. https://doi.org/10.3892/etm.2020.9552