Plasma microRNA profile as a predictor of early virological response to interferon treatment in chronic hepatitis B patients.

Background: Interferon (IFN) and pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) treatment of chronic hepatitis B leads to a sustained virological response in a limited proportion of patients and has considerable side effects. To find novel markers associated with prognosis of IFN therapy, we investigated whether a pretreatment plasma microRNA profile could be used to predict early virological response to IFN.

Methods: We performed microRNA microarray analysis of plasma samples from 94 patients with chronic hepatitis B who received IFN therapy.