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Abstract Details
Decreased level of intracellular cholesterol in peripheral blood mononuclear cells is associated with chronic hepatitis C virus infection
Sidorkiewicz M, Grek M, Jozwiak B, Piekarska A. Virus Res. 2013 Dec 26;178(2):539-42. doi: 10.1016/j.virusres.2013.09.019. Epub 2013 Sep 18.
Source
Department of Medical Biochemistry, Medical University of Lodz, Mazowiecka 6/8, 92-215 Lodz, Poland. Electronic address: malgorzata.sidorkiewicz@umed.lodz.pl.
Abstract
Peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) constitute the main extrahepatic place of, hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication. We aimed to determine the impact of CHC infection and microRNA-, 122 expression on cholesterol expression in PBMCs. HCV RNA strand, intracellular cholesterol, HMGCoA, reductase and miR-122 expression in PBMC were determined in 54 CHC patients. The study shows that significant decrease of intracellular cholesterol level in PBMC (p=0.000000), accompanied by serum hypocholesterolemia is the characteristic feature of chronic hepatitis C infection. Although, microRNA-122 expression was detectable in PBMCs of CHC patients (52.5%), the alteration of intracellular cholesterol level was independent of miR-122 expression.