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Abstract Hepatitis C virus infection is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. It has been estimated that 180 million people are infected worldwide. MicroRNAs are small non-coding RNAs of 19-24 nucleotides in length that regulate gene expression by post-transcriptional mechanism. MiR-122 expression is enriched in the liver, accounting for approximately 70 % of the total miRNA population in normal adult hepatocytes. It plays a crucial role in the HCV infection. The aim of this study was to determine gene expression of miR-122 in both hepatic tissue and peripheral blood of chronic HCV infected Egyptian patients and to correlate the level of expression with the serum HCV load. All subjects enrolled in the study were recruited from Ain Shams University Specialized Hospital, Transplantation Unit, and the laboratory work was conducted in Clinical Pathology Department, Immunology Unit Ain Shams University Hospital. The study included 20 patients diagnosed as CHC (group I) and 10 healthy controls (group II). group (I) was further subdivided according to the results of the last HCV RT-PCR into two groups:- |