The Characteristics and Functions of Molecular Biology for Liver-specific miR-122
肝脏特异性miR-122的分子生物学特性及功能

miR-122 is specifically and abundantly expressed in the human liver. The recent investigations have demonstrated that under the physiological condition, miR-122 may play important roles in regulating hepatocyte development, differentiation, metabolism, stress responses, and under the pathological condition, the abnormal expression of miR-122 is closely related to hepatitis C virus (HCV) or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and miR-122 is likely to facilitate replication of HCV RNA or is as a tumor suppressor gene for hepatocarcinogenesis. In addition, miR-122 could have diagnostic and prognostic significance for HCC. Respecting the effects of miR-122 on the major diseases of the human liver, the authors reviewed and analyzed the biological characteristics, diverse functions and possible mechanisms of miR-122. This liver-specific microRNA, miR-122, could be exploited as a key target for the treatment of human liver diseases.