Abstract
Background: Hepatitis B is a liver infection disease caused by the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) that can become chronic and develop into hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV was classified as a double-stranded DNA virus. Currently, there is a report showing that HBV virus-encoded miRNA called HBV-miR-3 controls the replication of HBV. However, the regulation of HBV-miR-3 in host cells remains unclear.
Objective: This study aimed to investigate the regulation of HBV-miR-3 in host gene target which is related to chronic HBV infection and HCC process.
Methods: In this study, we analyzed the read count of HBV-miR-3 from next-generation sequencing of chronic hepatitis patients in Pegylated interferon alpha-2a (PEG-IFN-α-2a) treatment. To understand the regulation of HBV-miR-3 in host cells, the HBV-miR-3 recognition sites were predicted in host target genes using miRDB. The effect of HBV-miR-3 in host cells was examined using qPCR and 3′ UTR dual luciferase assay.
Results: The read count of HBV-miR-3 was found in chronic hepatitis patients before treatment. Moreover, the decrease of HBV-miR-3 was correlated with response group of chronic hepatitis patients after treatment. On the other hand, the abundance of HBV-miR-3 showed no difference in nonresponse group of chronic patients after PEG-IFN-α-2a treatment. To study the role of HBV-miR-3 in patients, four HBV-miR-3 target regions from Protein phosphatase 1A (PPM1A) and DIX domain containing 1 (DIXDC1) were identified in the human genome using miRDB. Interestingly, we found that HBV-miR-3 hybridized with PPM1A mRNA. The mRNA expression from RT-qPCR showed no difference between HepG2 transfected with pSilencer_scramble or pSilencer_HBV-miR-3. However, the reporter assay showed that PPM1A mRNA was suppressed by HBV-miR-3. The protein expression of PPM1A showed a decrease in cells overexpressing HBV-miR-3. Finally, the HBV-miR-3 can promote cell proliferation in cells overexpressing HBV-miR-3.
Conclusion: This study is the first report showed the HBV encoded miRNA can regulate host gene expression. HBV-miR-3 silenced PPM1A by inhibiting the translation process of PPM1A. The downregulation of PPM1A promotes cell proliferation related to HCC development.
Keywords: HBV-miR-3, HCC, HepG2 cells, miRNA, PPM1A, chronic.
Graphical Abstract
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijms19041217]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/v1020185] [PMID: 21994545]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1155/2013/682380] [PMID: 23840262]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/nature02871]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-62703-083-0_10]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/JVI.01919-16] [PMID: 28148795]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/gb-2009-10-3-r25]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.22900] [PMID: 29340083]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/2211536607666180515111048] [PMID: 29766833]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1535370216647184] [PMID: 27190255]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/nar/gku1104] [PMID: 25378301]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1261/rna.5248604] [PMID: 15383676]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.18632/oncotarget.8884] [PMID: 27121309]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s13277-016-5213-9]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1128/MMBR.64.1.51-68.2000]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v24.i21.2261] [PMID: 29881235]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/1471-2164-13-563]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.3748/wjg.v24.i21.2261] [PMID: 29881235]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2006.03.044] [PMID: 16751101]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.2174/13816128113199990591]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2008.07.001]
[http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s13046-017-0510-8] [PMID: 28283039]