Evaluation of miR-101 Level in Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection and Liver Cirrhosis

Background and objective: mirnas are small rnas that are expressed in most eukaryotes, and can regulate gene expression by attaching to the 3’ end of target mrna. microrna-101 (mir-101) post-transcriptional regulation is important for host-virus interactions. in addition, mir-101 has a tumor suppressive role in liver cancer and metastasis, and induces apoptosis in tumor cells. we examined mir-101 expression in patients with chronic hepatitis b, hepatitis b virus (hbv)-associated cirrhosis and healthy individuals. methods: the study was performed on 108 whole blood samples (36 samples from each group) collected in edta tubes. rna was extraction by rnx-plus kit according to the manufacturer’s protocol. finally, mirna expression was evaluated using relative real time pcr. results: a 2.4-fold increase was observed in mir-101 expression in patients with chronic hepatitis b, while there was a 3.5-fold increase in mir-101 expression in patients with hbv-associated cirrhosis compared with healthy controls (p=0.003). mir-101 overexpression in patients with hbv-associated cirrhosis was more notable that in patients with chronic hepatitis b. conclusion: according to the results, evaluating mir-101 expression may predict disease progression from chronic hepatitis b to hbv-associated cirrhosis.