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

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.