A 2-year retrospective study of viral and host-associated risk factors in Pakistani hepatocellular carcinoma patients.

Objective: Persistent chronic hepatitis C (CHC) infection is associated strongly with serious complications such as hepatitis C virus-associated liver cirrhosis (HCV-LC) and hepatitis C virus-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCV-HCC). The aim of this study was to assess the distribution of hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes among HCV-positive patients and examine the potential associations between viral and host-associated factors with the risk of developing HCV-HCC.

Patients And Methods: HCV-positive patients (n = 300) were enrolled and divided into three groups: CHC (n = 171), HCV-LC (n = 51), and HCV-HCC (n = 78).

Parallel expression profiling of hepatic and serum microRNA-122 associated with clinical features and treatment responses in chronic hepatitis C patients.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small, non-coding RNAs that regulate a variety of biological processes. Recently, human liver-specific miRNA miR-122 has been reported to facilitate hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication in liver cells. HCV is one of the leading causes of liver diseases worldwide.