Table 2.
Micro RNAs dysregulated in NASH and NASH-HCC.
| Micro RNAs | Stage Disease | Expression in Hepatic Tissue | Biological Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| miR-122 | NAFLD, NASH, early stages of HCC | Upregulated or Downregulated |
Lipid metabolism [113,114,115,127,134,138,139] |
| miR-29a | NASH | Downregulated | Inflammation and fibrosis [118] |
| miR-33 | NASH | Upregulated | Lipid metabolism and transport [115] |
| miR-21 | NASH | Upregulated | Inflammation and fibrosis [115,121] |
| miR-34a-5p | NASH | Upregulated | Lipid metabolism [122] |
| miR-122-5p | NASH | Downregulated | Lipid metabolism [122] |
| miR-21, miR-1290, miR-27b-3p, and miR-192-5p | NASH | Upregulated | Inflammation [115,121,130] |
| miR-221/222 | NASH | Upregulated | Fibrosis [124] |
| miR99b | NASH | Upregulated | Pericellular fibrosis [126] |
| miR-155-5p, miR-423-5p, miR-15b-5p, miR143-3p, and miR-26a-5p | NASH | Upregulated | ATP production [130] |
| miR-let-7c-5p | NASH | Upregulated | Fibrogenic responses [130] |
| miR-423-5p, miR-let-7a-5p, and miR-let-7c-5p | NASH | Upregulated | IL-6R is decreased [130,131,133] |
| miR-155, miR-221/222, and miR-21, | NASH-HCC | Upregulated | Early stages of hepatocarcinogenesis [130,134,137] |
| miR-122 | NASH-HCC | Downregulated | Early stages of hepatocarcinogenesis [134,139] |
| miR-16 | NASH-HCC | Upregulated | Hepatocarcinogenesis [135] |
| miR-155, miR-193b, miR-27a, miR-31, miR-99b, miR-484, miR-574-3p, miR125a-5p, and miR-182 | NAFLD-NASH-HCC | Upregulated | Hepatocarcinogenesis [134,136,137] |
| miR-20a, miR-200c, miR-93, miR-340-5p, and miR-720 | NAFLD-NASH-HCC | Downregulated | Hepatocarcinogenesis [136] |
| miR-21 and miR-155 | HCC | Upregulated | Early stages of HCC [134] |
| miR-192 | NAFLD and NASH | Downregulated | HSC activation [128] |
| miR-34a | NAFLD and NASH | Upregulated | Inflammation [114,123,128,129] |
| miR-375 | NAFLD and NASH | Upregulated | Glucose homeostasis, intestinal permeability modulation, and inflammation [128,129] |
| miR-125b | NAFLD and NASH | Upregulated | Lipid and glucose homeostasis, adipocyte differentiation, and fibrosis [128,129] |
| miR-33a/b | NASH | Upregulated | Lipid and cholesterol homeostasis, glucose homeostasis, and inflammation [128] |
| miR-451 | NAFLD and NASH | Downregulated | Inflammation [128] |
| miR-155 | NASH | Upregulated | Lipid metabolism, intestinal permeability modulation, and inflammation [125,130] |
Abbreviations: ATP, adenosine triphosphate; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; HSCs, hepatic stellate cells; IL-6R, interleukin 6 receptor; NAFLD, non-alcoholic fatty liver disease; NASH, non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.