Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 14, 2022; 28(22): 2417-2428
Published online Jun 14, 2022. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v28.i22.2417
Hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatitis C virus infection and miRNA involvement: Perspectives for new therapeutic approaches
Ester Badami, Rosalia Busà, Bruno Douradinha, Giovanna Russelli, Vitale Miceli, Alessia Gallo, Giovanni Zito, Pier Giulio Conaldi, Gioacchin Iannolo
Ester Badami, Bruno Douradinha, Regenerative Medicine and Immunotherapy Area, Fondazione Ri.MED, Palermo 90127, Italy
Rosalia Busà, Giovanna Russelli, Vitale Miceli, Alessia Gallo, Giovanni Zito, Pier Giulio Conaldi, Gioacchin Iannolo, Department of Research, Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies (IRCCS-ISMETT), Palermo 90127, Italy
Author contributions: Badami E, Busà R, Douradinha B, Russelli G, Miceli V, Gallo A, Zito G, Conaldi PG and Iannolo G carried out the research for the manuscript and edited all drafts of the paper; Badami E, Busà R and Douradinha B equally contributed to the manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Gioacchin Iannolo, BSc, PhD, Research Scientist, Department of Research, Mediterranean Institute for Transplantation and Advanced Specialized Therapies (IRCCS-ISMETT), Via E. Tricomi 5, Palermo 90127, Italy. giannolo@ismett.edu
Received: February 16, 2022
Peer-review started: February 16, 2022
First decision: March 9, 2022
Revised: March 22, 2022
Accepted: April 15, 2022
Article in press: April 15, 2022
Published online: June 14, 2022
Processing time: 113 Days and 12.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most life-threatening cancers worldwide. Among other factors, HCC is frequently caused by chronic hepatitis C virus infection. Currently, the mechanisms responsible for its neoplastic transformation are not completely understood. Regardless of the recent discovery and therapeutic use of latest-generation direct-acting antivirals, HCC remains an unresolved problem, even after viral eradication. In this scenario, miRNAs can become both a diagnostic tool and, hopefully, a novel therapeutic approach.