Circulating microRNAs in exosomes indicate hepatocyte injury and inflammation in alcoholic, drug-induced, and inflammatory liver diseases

UNLABELLED: MicroRNAs are fine tuners of diverse biological responses and are expressed in various cell types of the liver. Here we hypothesized that circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) may serve as biomarkers of liver damage and inflammation. We studied miRNA-122, which is abundant in hepatocytes, and miR-155, -146a, and -125b, which regulate inflammation in immune cells in mouse models of alcoholic liver disease (ALD), drug (acetaminophen, APAP)-induced liver injury (DILI), and Toll-like receptor (TLR) 9+4 ligand-induced inflammatory cell-mediated liver damage. We found that serum/plasma miR-122 correlated with alanine aminotransferase (ALT) increases in the liver damage caused by alcohol, APAP, and TLR9 (CpG)+4…