AIMTo assess the role of some circulating miRNAs (miR-23a, miR-203, miR338, miR-34, and miR-16) as tumor markers for diagnosis of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODSOne hundred and seventy-one subjects were enrolled, 57 patients with HCC, 57 patients with liver cirrhosis (LC) and 57 healthy subjects as control group. Severity of liver disease was assessed by Child Pugh score. Tumor staging was done using Okuda staging system. Quantification of Micro RNA (miR-23a, miR-203, miR338, miR-34, and miR-16) was performed.RESULTSAll studied miRNA showed significant difference between HCC and cirrhotic patients in comparison to healthy control. miR-23a showed statistically significant difference between HCC and cirrhotic patients being higher in HCC group than cirrhotic. miR-23a is significantly higher in HCC patients with focal lesion size equal or more than 5 cm, patients with multiple focal lesions and Okuda stage III. At cutoff value ≥ 210, miR-23a showed accuracy 79.3% to diagnose HCC patients with sensitivity 89.47% and specificity about 64.91%. At cut off level ≥ 200 ng/mL, serum alpha fetoprotein had 73.68% sensitivity, 52.63% specificity, 43.75% PPV, 80% NPV for diagnosis of HCC.CONCLUSIONMicroRNA 23a can be used as a screening test for early detection of HCC. Also, it is related to larger size of tumour, late Okuda staging and multiple hepatic focal lesions, so it might be a prognostic biomarker.

We confirmed high HBV reactivation risk in HBsAg-positive patients undergoing DAAs, with only a minority developing clinically important hepatitis. The risk is negligible for HBsAg-negative anti-HBc-positive patients.

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The criterion standard for the diagnosis of occult hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is detection of HCV-RNA in liver cells. However, because of the invasive nature of liver biopsy, other methods have been studied. The present study aimed to identify subjects with occult HCV-4 infection among healthy sexual partners of patients with chronic HCV-4 infection by detecting HCV-RNA in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) using real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Fifty healthy Egyptian spouses of patients with chronic HCV-4 infection were included in this study. Real-time PCR was used to detect HCV-RNA in PBMCs in all the study subjects. The prevalence of occult HCV-4 infection was 4%, and a statistically significant higher prevalence was found among patients with a history of sexually transmitted infection. The results of the present study indicate the importance of intra-spousal transmission of HCV-4 infection, especially in subjects with a history of sexually transmitted infection.