MicroRNAs and hepatitis C virus: Toward the end of miR-122 supremacy

Review
MicroRNAs and hepatitis C virus: Toward the end of miR-122 supremacy

Thomas W Hoffmann, Gilles Duverlie and Abderrahmane Bengrine

Virology Journal 2012, 9:109 doi:10.1186/1743-422X-9-109
Published: 12 June 2012
Abstract (provisional)

The most common etiologic agents causing chronic hepatitis are hepatitis C and B viruses (HCV and HBV, respectively). Chronic infection caused by HCV is considered one of the major causative agents of liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. In combination with the increasing rate of new HCV infections, the lack of a current vaccine and/or an effective treatment for this virus continues to be a major public health challenge. The development of new treatments requires a better understanding of the virus and its interaction with the different components of the host cell. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small non-coding RNAs functioning as negative regulators of gene expression and represent an interesting lead to study HCV infection and to identify new therapeutic targets. Until now, microRNA-122 (miR-122) and its implication in HCV infection have been the focus of different published studies and reviews. Here we will review recent advances in the relationship between HCV infection and miRNAs, showing that some of them emerge in publications as challengers against the supremacy of miR-122.

The complete article is available as a provisional PDF. The fully formatted PDF and HTML versions are in production.

http://www.virologyj.com/content/9/1/109/abstract