Published online Mar 7, 2023. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v29.i9.1446
Peer-review started: October 4, 2022
First decision: October 17, 2022
Revised: October 27, 2022
Accepted: February 27, 2023
Article in press: February 27, 2023
Published online: March 7, 2023
Processing time: 154 Days and 8.9 Hours
Liver fibrosis is a wound-healing response following chronic liver injury caused by hepatitis virus infection, obesity, or excessive alcohol. It is a dynamic and reversible process characterized by the activation of hepatic stellate cells and excess accumulation of extracellular matrix. Advanced fibrosis could lead to cirrhosis and even liver cancer, which has become a significant health burden worldwide. Many studies have revealed that noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs, long noncoding RNAs and circular RNAs, are involved in the pathogenesis and development of liver fibrosis by regulating signaling pathways including transforming growth factor-β pathway, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B pathway, and Wnt/β-catenin pathway. NcRNAs in serum or exosomes have been reported to tentatively applied in the diagnosis and staging of liver fibrosis and combined with elastography to improve the accuracy of diagnosis. NcRNAs mimics, ncRNAs in mesenchymal stem cell-derived exosomes, and lipid nanoparticles-encapsulated ncRNAs have become promising therapeutic approaches for the treatment of liver fibrosis. In this review, we update the latest knowledge on ncRNAs in the pathogenesis and progression of liver fibrosis, and discuss the potentials and challenges to use these ncRNAs for diagnosis, staging and treatment of liver fibrosis. All these will help us to develop a comprehensive understanding of the role of ncRNAs in liver fibrosis.
Core Tip: Liver fibrosis is an inevitable stage in the development of various chronic liver diseases, and manifests as an imbalance between the formation and degradation of extracellular matrix. The key mechanism of liver fibrosis is the activation of hepatic stellate cells, which is coordinately regulated by a variety of cytokines, inflammatory factors and chemokines involved in multiple cells signaling pathways. In this review, we discuss the role of noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs) in regulating the signaling pathways in the formation and regression of liver fibrosis, and the limitations, challenges, and prospects of ncRNAs in the diagnosis and treatment of liver fibrosis.