microRNA’s in Alcoholic Liver Disease
Alcoholic liver disease affects millions of people worldwide and it remains to be a therapeutic challenge for clinicians. Activation of the inflammatory cascade via gut-derived lipopolysaccharide (LPS) contributes to alcoholic liver disease via induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines induction in Kupffer cells. Micro-RNA-155 (miR-155), small non-coding RNA molecule, is important in regulation of inflammation. Our studies demonstrated that chronic alcohol up-regulates miR155 in macrophages in vitro as as as in vivo in the liver and in isolated Kupffer cells and this miR155 increase contributes to inflammation in alcoholic liver disease. We recently reported that miR-155 deficient mice are partially provoked with alcohol induced liver damage and fibrosis. Our studies on miR-155 revealed a critical role for reducing miR-155 in hepatocytes in the progression of alcoholic liver disease.
