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Review
. 2015 Mar 27;7(3):498-506.
doi: 10.4254/wjh.v7.i3.498.

MiR-122 in hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus dual infection

Kyoungsub Song  1 , Chang Han  1 , Srikanta Dash  1 , Luis A Balart  1 , Tong Wu  1
Affiliations
Review

MiR-122 in hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus dual infection

Kyoungsub Song et al. World J Hepatol. .

Abstract

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections are the most common causes of chronic liver diseases and hepatocelluar carcinomas. Over the past few years, the liver-enriched microRNA-122 (miR-122) has been shown to differentially regulate viral replication of HBV and HCV. It is notable that the level of miR-122 is positively and negatively regulated by HCV and HBV, respectively. Consistent with the well-documented phenomenon that miR-122 promotes HCV accumulation, inhibition of miR-122 has been shown as an effective therapy for the treatment of HCV infection in both chimpanzees and humans. On the other hand, miR-122 is also known to block HBV replication, and HBV has recently been shown to inhibit miR-122 expression; such a reciprocal inhibition between miR-122 and HBV suggests an intriguing possibility that miR-122 replacement may represent a potential therapy for treatment of HBV infection. As HBV and HCV have shared transmission routes, dual infection is not an uncommon scenario, which is associated with more advanced liver disease than either HBV or HCV mono-infection. Thus, there is a clear need to further understand the interaction between HBV and HCV and to delineate the role of miR-122 in HBV/HCV dual infection in order to devise effective therapy. This review summarizes the current understanding of HBV/HCV dual infection, focusing on the pathobiological role and therapeutic potential of miR-122.

Keywords: Hepatitis B virus; Hepatitis B virus/hepatitis C virus dual infection; Hepatitis C virus; MiR-122.

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Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Emerging role of miR-122 in hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infection. Liver specific miR-122 binds to 5’UTR sites of HCV RNA and promotes their translation and replication. In contrast, miR-122 binds to highly conserved HBV pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) and modulating pgRNA stability, leading to inhibition of HBV production. miR-122 also positively regulates p53-mediated inhibition of HBV transcription through direct targeting cyclin G1. HBV infection affects miR-122 expression and stability. Hepatitis B viral X protein (HBX) binds to peroxisome proliferator activated receptor gamma (PPAR-γ) and thereby inhibits miR-122 transcription. In addition, HBX also reduce the miR-122 levels through downregulating Gld2. HBV: Hepatitis B virus; HCV: Hepatitis C virus; miR-122: MicroRNA-122; Gld2: Germline development 2.
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