MicroRNA-122 (miR-122) is one of the most abundant miRs in the liver. Previous studies have demonstrated that miR-122 plays a role in inflammation in the liver and functions in hepatic stellate cells (HSCs), which reside in the space of Disse. Here, we showed that the transient inhibition of PKR-activating protein (PACT) expression, by miR-122 or siRNA targeting of PACT, suppressed the producti...

BACKGROUND & AIMS Heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) is an antioxidant defense and key cytoprotective enzyme, which is repressed by Bach1. Micro-RNA-122 (miR-122) is specifically expressed and highly abundant in human liver and required for replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNA. This study was to assess whether a specific miR-122 antagomir down-regulates HCV protein replication and up-regulates HO-1....

As the most abundant liver-specific microRNA (miRNA), miR-122 has been extensively studied for its role in the regulation of lipid metabolism, hepatocarcinogenesis and hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication, but little is known regarding its role in the replication of Hepatitis B virus (HBV), a highly prevalent hepatotropic virus that can cause life-threatening complications. In this study we exam...

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically infects approximately 350 million people worldwide. The replication of HBV which genome is only 3.2 kb long relies heavily on host factors. Previous studies demonstrated that a highly expressed liver-specific microRNA (miRNA) miR-122 suppresses HBV expression and replication in multiple ways. In this study, we found that the miR-122 response elements in viral...

miRNAs are 20-22 nt long post-transcriptional regulators in metazoan cells that repress protein expression from their target mRNAs. These tiny regulatory RNAs follow tissue and cell-type specific expression pattern, aberrations of which are associated with various diseases. miR-122 is a liver-specific anti-proliferative miRNA that, we found, can be transferred via exosomes between human hepatom...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in the orchestration of diverse cellular processes including differentiation, proliferation, and apoptosis and are believed to play pivotal roles as oncogenes and tumor suppressors. miR-122, a liver specific miRNA, is significantly down-regulated in most hepatocellular carcinomas (HCCs) but its role in tumorigenesis remains poorly understood. Here we iden...

OBJECTIVE Intratumoral administration of adenoviral vector encoding herpes simplex virus (HSV) thymidine kinase (TK) gene (Ad-TK) followed by systemic ganciclovir (GCV) is an effective approach in treating experimental hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, hepatotoxicity due to unwanted vector spread and suicide gene expression limited the application of this therapy. miR-122 is an abundant,...

Nocturnin is a circadian clock-regulated deadenylase thought to control mRNA expression post-transcriptionally through poly(A) tail removal. The expression of Nocturnin is robustly rhythmic in liver at both the mRNA and protein levels, and mice lacking Nocturnin are resistant to diet-induced obesity and hepatic steatosis. Here we report that Nocturnin expression is regulated by microRNA-122 (mi...

MicroRNA-122 (miR-122), which is expressed at high levels in hepatocytes, is selectively stabilized by 3'-adenylation mediated by the cytoplasmic poly(A) polymerase GLD-2. Here, we report that poly(A)-specific ribonuclease (PARN) is responsible for the deadenylation and destabilization of miR-122. The 3'-oligoadenylated variant of miR-122 was detected in Huh7 cells when PARN was down-regulated....

MicroRNA molecules have been increasingly regarded as a diagnostic and prognostic marker of certain diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate the expression and clinical significance of miR-122 and miR-29 in liver disease related to hepatitis B virus infection. The serum levels of miR-122 and miR-29 in 20 patients with hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), 20 patients with liver cirrhosis (L...