Abstract
BACKGROUND: The lack of effective non-invasive diagnostic methods for liver fibrosis hinders timely treatment for chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients, leading to the progression of advanced liver disease. Circulating microRNAs offer a non-invasive approach to fibrosis assessment. MicroRNA-15a/16-1 (miR-15a/16) was reported to be implicated in fibrosis development, but the role of plasma miR-15a/16 in liver fibrosis assessment remains poorly understood. This study explored the importance of plasma miR-15a/16 in assessing liver fibrosis severity of CHB patients. METHODS: Quantitative PCR was utilized to measure the levels of plasma miR-15a/16 in 435 patients with CHB and 74 healthy controls. We assessed the correlation between plasma miR-15a/16 levels and liver fibrosis and cirrhosis using Pearson correlation coefficients, multivariate linear and logistic regression models, and smooth curve fitting. Utilizing the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve, we examined the diagnostic potential of plasma miR-15a/16 in severe fibrosis and cirrhosis. RESULTS: Plasma levels of miR-15a/16 in patients with CHB were significantly reduced compared to those in healthy controls. In the CHB cohort, levels were notably decreased in individuals with severe fibrosis or cirrhosis compared to those without severe fibrosis or cirrhosis. Plasma miR-15a/16 levels exhibited a negative relationship with the severity of liver fibrosis, gradually decreasing as the histological fibrosis stage progressed from S0 to S4. Reduced levels of plasma miR-15a/16 were linked to an elevated risk of severe liver fibrosis (miR-15a: odds ratio [OR] = 0.243; 95 % confidence interval [CI]: 0.138, 0.427; miR-16: OR = 0.201; 95 % CI: 0.097, 0.417) and cirrhosis (miR-15a: OR = 0.153; 95 % CI: 0.079, 0.298; miR-16: OR = 0.064; 95 % CI: 0.025, 0.162). MiR-15a achieved an area under the ROC curve of 0.886 and 0.832 for detecting moderate-to-severe fibrosis (S2-S4) and cirrhosis, respectively. MiR-16 demonstrated similar diagnostic values. CONCLUSION: Plasma miR-15a/16 levels were negatively correlated with the severity of liver fibrosis in CHB patients and could serve as a new non-invasive indicator in evaluating liver fibrosis.