Abstract
The transition from liver fibrosis to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) has been suggested to be a continuous and developmental pathological process. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are recently discovered molecules that regulate the expression of genes involved in liver disease. Many reports demonstrate that miR-483-5p and miR-483-3p, which originate from miR-483, are up-regulated in HCC, and their oncogenic targets have been identified. However, recent studies have suggested that miR-483-5p/3p is partially down-regulated in HCC samples and is down-regulated in rat liver fibrosis. Therefore, the aberrant expression and function of miR-483 in liver fibrosis remains elusive. In this study, we demonstrate that overexpression of miR-483 in vivo inhibits mouse liver fibrosis induced by CCl4 . We demonstrate that miR-483-5p/3p acts together to target two pro-fibrosis factors, platelet-derived growth factor-β and tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase 2, which suppress the activation of hepatic stellate cells (HSC) LX-2. Our work identifies the pathway that regulates liver fibrosis by inhibiting the activation of HSCs.