Table 1.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection alters the liver miRNA profile to promote viral pathogenesis and liver disease
| Hepatic miRNA | Expression | Target | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| HCV infection | |||
| miR‐122 | Up | HCV 5′ UTR | Enhance HCV replication,48, 96, 98, 99 enhance HCV translation,97, 100 inhibit 5′ HCV RNA degradation101 |
| Xrn1 | Inhibit 5′ HCV RNA degradation102 | ||
| Cyclin G1 | Mediate alcohol‐induced increase in HCV replication103 | ||
| — | Reduce SOCS3 promoter methylation, inhibiting interferon‐induced ISRE activity104 | ||
| miR‐491 | Down | — | Inhibit HCV replication via down‐regulating PI3 kinase/Akt signalling33 |
| miR‐130a | Up | IFITM1 | Promote HCV replication via inhibiting type 1 interferon signalling45 |
| miR‐21 | Up | MyD88, IRAK1 | Promote HCV replication via inhibiting type 1 interferon signalling46 |
| miR‐27a | Up | RXRa, ABCA1 | Decrease viral infectivity via regulation of lipid metabolism52 |
| miR‐196 | — | Bach1 | Relieve Bach1 repression of antioxidant/anti‐inflammatory HMOX1, inhibit HCV translation50 |
| HCV NS5A region | Inhibit HCV replication105 | ||
| miR‐448 | — | HCV Core region | Inhibit HCV replication105 |
| mir‐29 | Down | — | Inhibit HCV replication107 |
| miR‐199a | — | HCV 5′ UTR | Inhibit HCV replication106 |
| Growth, inflammation and fibrosis | |||
| mir‐449a | Down | — | Inhibit NOTCH signalling components and associated pro‐inflammatory marker YKL40108 |
| miR‐21 | Up | SMAD7 | Promote fibrosis via increased TGF‐beta signalling109 |
| mir‐29 | Down | — | Inhibit cell proliferation and collagen expression107 |
| miR‐155 | Up | APC | Promote proliferation and tumorigenesis via Wnt signalling49 |
| miR‐141 | Up | DLC‐1 | Promote cell proliferation via inhibiting tumour suppressor DLC‐1110 |
| miR‐193b | Up | Mcl‐1 | Promote apoptosis via inhibition of anti‐apoptotic Mcl‐1111 |
| miR‐491 | Down | — | Down‐regulate PI3 kinase/Akt signalling33 |
| Metabolism | |||
| miR‐27a | Up | RXRa, ABCA1 | Regulation of lipid metabolism including SREB/PPAR/Apo family proteins52 |
| miR‐122 | Up | HCV 5′ UTR | Correlates with plasma cholesterol concentrations, miR‐122 inhibition results in decreased plasma cholesterol concentrations53, 96 |
ISRE, interferon‐sensitive response element. Literature review revealed several key intracellular miRNA changes upon HCV infection; their respective identified targets and associated functions are highlighted. Note that miRNAs without expression information or identified targets are indicated by —.