Evidence for an important role of host microRNAs in regulating hepatic fibrosis in humans infected with Schistosoma japonicum

•MicroRNAs (miRNAs) regulate liver fibrosis during schistosomiasis infection.•Regulator miRNAs are found in fibrotic livers of humans infected by schistosomiasis japonicum.•Some regulator miRNAs are found in the livers of mice infected by Schistosoma mansoni.•Genes regulated by miRNAs are implicated in various physiological mechanisms.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are short, non-coding RNAs that repress the translation of target gene transcripts. They have been implicated in various activities such as cell proliferation, survival, differentiation, migration and metabolism. We report here the first known miRNome and transcriptome analysis of human livers displaying advanced fibrosis due to Schistosoma japonicum infection. We present evidence that hsa-miR-150-5p, hsa-miR-10a-5p, hsa-miR-199a-3p, hsa-miR-4521, hsa-miR-222/221, hsa-miR-663b and hsa-miR-143-3p (associated without correction) play an important role in hepatic fibrosis by acting on metabolism, organization of the extracellular matrix proteins, lipid mobilization and limitation of oxidative damage stress.

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