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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Apr 21, 2016; 22(15): 3907-3936
Published online Apr 21, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i15.3907
MicroRNAs as possible biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of hepatitis B- and C-related-hepatocellular-carcinoma
Sirio Fiorino, Maria Letizia Bacchi-Reggiani, Michela Visani, Giorgia Acquaviva, Adele Fornelli, Michele Masetti, Andrea Tura, Fabio Grizzi, Matteo Zanello, Laura Mastrangelo, Raffaele Lombardi, Luca Di Tommaso, Arrigo Bondi, Sergio Sabbatani, Andrea Domanico, Carlo Fabbri, Paolo Leandri, Annalisa Pession, Elio Jovine, Dario de Biase
Sirio Fiorino, Paolo Leandri, Unità Operativa di Medicina C, Ospedale Maggiore, 40133 Bologna, Italy
Maria Letizia Bacchi-Reggiani, Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Istituto di Cardiologia Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpighi, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy
Michela Visani, Annalisa Pession, Dario de Biase, Dipartimento di Farmacia e Biotecnologie, Università di Bologna, 40139 Bologna, Italy
Giorgia Acquaviva, Dipartimento di Medicina Sperimentale, Università di Bologna, Ospedale Bellaria, 40139 Bologna, Italy
Adele Fornelli, Arrigo Bondi, Servizio di Anatomia Patologica, Ospedale Maggiore, 40133 Bologna, Italy
Michele Masetti, Matteo Zanello, Laura Mastrangelo, Raffaele Lombardi, Elio Jovine, Unità Operativa di Chirurgia A, Ospedale Maggiore, 40133 Bologna, Italy
Andrea Tura, CNR Institute of Neuroscience, Padova, Italy, 35121 Padova, Italy
Fabio Grizzi, Luca Di Tommaso, Humanitas Clinical and Research Center, 20089 Rozzano, Milano, Italy
Sergio Sabbatani, Istituto di Malattie Infettive, Policlinico S. Orsola-Malpighi, Università degli Studi di Bologna, 40138 Bologna, Italy
Andrea Domanico, Unità Operativa di Medicina Interna A, Ospedale Maggiore, 40133 Bologna, Italy
Carlo Fabbri, Unità Operativa di Endoscopia Digestiva, Ospedale Maggiore, 40133 Bologna, Italy
Author contributions: Fiorino S conceived the study and coordinated the search activity of colleagues; Visani M and Acquaviva G contributed to the design of the review and coordinated the preparation of the first draft of manuscript; Masetti M and Lombardi R independently and in a parallel manner, performed the literature search, identified and screened the articles; Fornelli A and Bacchi-Reggiani ML supervised the literature search analysis; Grizzi F and Di Tommaso L contributed to write the first draft of manuscript; Tura A and Domanico A checked the accuracy of data collection; Zanello M and Mastrangelo L independently extracted and tabulated all relevant data from included studies by means of a standardized flow path and contributed to writing the manuscript; Fabbri C and Leandri P commented on drafts of the manuscript; Pession A and Bondi A supervised and critically reviewed the manuscript; Jovine E and Sabbatani S were responsible for the final approval of manuscript; de Biase D contributed to the design of the study and commented on drafts of the manuscript; all authors approved the final version of the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors have no conflict of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Sirio Fiorino, MD, Unità Operativa di Medicina C, Ospedale Maggiore, Largo Negrisoli 2, 40133 Bologna, Italy. sirio.fiorino@ausl.bologna.it
Telephone: +39-51-809259 Fax: +39-51-809296
Received: January 19, 2016
Peer-review started: January 20, 2016
First decision: February 18, 2016
Revised: March 5, 2016
Accepted: March 18, 2016
Article in press: March 18, 2016
Published online: April 21, 2016
Processing time: 75 Days and 3.9 Hours
Abstract

Aim of the present review is to summarize the current knowledge about the potential relationship between miRNAs and hepatitis B virus (HBV)-hepatitis C virus (HCV) related liver diseases. A systematic computer-based search of published articles, according to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic reviews and Meta-Analysis Statement, was performed to identify relevant studies on usefulness of serum/plasma/urine miRNAs, as noninvasive biomarkers for early detection of HBV and HCV-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development, as well as for its prognostic evaluation. The used Medical Subject Headings terms and keywords were: “HBV”, “HCV”, “hepatocellular carcinoma”, “microRNAs”, “miRNAs”, “diagnosis”, “prognosis”, “therapy”, “treatment”. Some serum/plasma miRNAs, including miR-21, miR-122, mi-125a/b, miR-199a/b, miR-221, miR-222, miR-223, miR-224 might serve as biomarkers for early diagnosis/prognosis of HCC, but, to date, not definitive results or well-defined panels of miRNAs have been obtained. More well-designed studies, focusing on populations of different geographical areas and involving larger series of patients, should be carried out to improve our knowledge on the potential role of miRNAs for HCC early detection and prognosis.

Keywords: Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatocellular carcinomas; Liver diseases; MicroRNAs; Review

Core tip: A systematic computer-based search of published articles was performed to identify relevant studies on usefulness of serum/plasma/urine miRNAs, as noninvasive biomarkers for early detection of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus-induced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) development. Some serum/plasma miRNAs might serve as biomarkers for early diagnosis/prognosis of HCC, but, to date, not definitive results or well-defined panels of miRNAs have been obtained. More well-designed studies should be carried out to improve our knowledge on the potential role of miRNAs for HCC early detection and prognosis.