The role of miRNAs in the regulation of inflammatory processes during hepatofibrogenesis

Liver cirrhosis represents the end stage of most chronic inflammatory liver diseases and is amajor global health burden. Despite the enormous relevance of cirrhotic disease, pharmacological strategiesfor prevention or treatment of hepatic fibrosis are still limited, underlining the need to establish a betterunderstanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying the pathogenesis of hepatic cirrhosis. Recently,miRNAs have emerged as a new class of RNAs that do not withhold the information to encode for proteinsbut regulate whole gene expression networks during different physiological and pathological processes.Various authors demonstrated that miRNA species are functionally involved in the regulation of chronic liverdamage and development of liver cirrhosis in inflamed livers. Moreover, circulating miRNA patterns weresuggested to serve as blood-based biomarkers indicating liver injury and progression to hepatic cirrhosis andcancer. Here we summarize current findings on a potential role of miRNAs in the cascade leading from liverinflammation to liver fibrosis and finally hepatocellular carcinoma. We compare data from animal modelswith findings on miRNAs dysregulated in human patients and finally highlight a potential use of miRNAs asbiomarkers for liver injury, fibrosis and cancer.