A cross-talk between Hepatitis B virus and host mRNAs confers viral adaptation to liver.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronically infects approximately 350 million people worldwide. The replication of HBV which genome is only 3.2 kb long relies heavily on host factors. Previous studies demonstrated that a highly expressed liver-specific microRNA (miRNA) miR-122 suppresses HBV expression and replication in multiple ways. In this study, we found that the miR-122 response elements in viral genome facilitate HBV expression and replication in miR-122 highly-expressed hepatocytes. Moreover, mutations in miR-122 response elements are correlated with viral loads and disease progression in HBV-infected patients. We next found that HBV mRNA with miR-122 response elements alone could lead to altered expression of multiple host genes by whole genome expression analysis. HBV mRNA-mediated miR-1

SUBMITTER: Hu J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4505342 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature