Interaction Pattern Between MicroRNA And HBV Proteins In Target Genes

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has become one of the most serious viral diseases threatening human health. China is one of the high-prevalence areas with120million infected people. In recent years, many studies have proved that microRNA (miRNA) can mediate the interaction between host and virus. Clarifying miRNA’s role in HBV infection could help to propose new treatment strategies. However, functional study of miRNA was found to be blocked by its multi-target property. Aiming to learn miRNA’s regulation mechanism during HBV infection, the functional profiles of HBV related miRNA and HBV protein were compared from the perspective of their targeted genes. A semi-quantitative analysis was performed and the potential interaction pattern was investigated at a network level as well. The results indicated that HBV related miRNA’s function may be more concentrated than HBV protein at target gene level. Furthermore, miRNA could regulate HBV’s pathogenesis by directely targeting HBV proteins’target genes and their neighbors. In this paper, it was suggested that HBV related miRNA may tend to antagonize HBV proteins’effects in the regulation process of apoptosis, cell cycle and humoral immunity. This study not only provides a network method for miRNA’s function study, but also can give a better understanding of miRNA’s role in HBV infection which would further facilitate the treatment of HBV based on miRNA.