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Heroin Use Promotes HCV Infection and Dysregulates HCV-Related Circulating microRNAs

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Abstract

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is common among injection drug users (IDUs). There is accumulating evidence that circulating microRNAs (miRNAs) are associated with HCV infection and disease progression. The present study was undertaken to determine the in vivo impact of heroin use on HCV infection and HCV-related circulating miRNA expression. Using the blood specimens from four groups of the study subjects (HCV-infected individuals, heroin users with/without HCV infection, and healthy volunteers), we found that HCV-infected heroin users had significantly higher viral load than HCV-infected non-heroin users (p = 0.0004). Measurement of HCV-related circulating miRNAs in plasma showed that miRs-122, 141, 29a, 29b, and 29c were significantly increased in the heroin users with HCV infection, whereas miR-351, an HCV inhibitory miRNA, was significantly decreased in heroin users as compared to control subjects. Further investigation identified a negative correlation between the plasma levels of miR-29 family members and severity of HCV infection based on aspartate aminotransferase to platelet ratio index (APRI). In addition, heroin use and/or HCV infection also dysregulated a panel of plasma miRNAs. Taken together, these data for the first time revealed in vivo evidence that heroin use and/or HCV infection alter circulating miRNAs, which provides a novel mechanism for the impaired innate anti-HCV immunity among IDUs.

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Financial Support

The study was supported by grants NIDA012815, NIDA027550 and NIDA022177 (to WZH) from the National Institutes of Health.

Conflict of Interest

The authors have no conflict of interest.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: YZ XW WZH. Performed the experiments: YZ LS XW. Analyzed the data: YZ HQZ XW WZH. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools/others: LZ MQL FW JSP YZW JLL MS NR XDL XEG DJZ. Wrote the paper: YZ WZH.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine, 3500 N. Broad St., Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA

    Yu Zhou, Xu Wang, Jieliang Li, Nancy Reichenbach & Wen-Zhe Ho

  2. Center for Animal Experiment/ABSL-III Laboratory, Wuhan University School of Medicine, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Li Sun, Li Zhou & Wen-Zhe Ho

  3. Wuhan Centers for Disease Prevention & Control, Wuhan, 430015, China

    Manqing Liu, Fang Wang, Jinsong Peng & Dunjin Zhou

  4. Zhongnan Hospital, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430071, China

    Xi’en Gui

  5. Temple Clinical Research Institute, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, PA, 19140, USA

    Huaqing Zhao

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  1. Yu Zhou
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  2. Li Sun
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  3. Xu Wang
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  13. Wen-Zhe Ho
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Correspondence to Wen-Zhe Ho.

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DA12815 and DA22177 to Dr. Wen-Zhe Ho

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Zhou, Y., Sun, L., Wang, X. et al. Heroin Use Promotes HCV Infection and Dysregulates HCV-Related Circulating microRNAs. J Neuroimmune Pharmacol 10, 102–110 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11481-014-9577-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11481-014-9577-6

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