ABSTRACT
Host genetic,environmental and viral factors are classified as three categories that determine clinical outcomes of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection.The objective of this study was to detect the associations between polymorphisms rs346473 and rs346482 in Rho GTPase-activating protein 24 (ARHGAP24) gene and disease progression of HBV infection in Han Chinese population.These two SNPs were found by our DNA pooling using Affymetrix Genome-Wide Human Mapping SNP6.0 Array in HBV carriers,and verified by using TaqMan 7900HT Sequence Detection System with 758 progressed HBV carriers versus 300 asymptomatic HBV carriers (AsC) in a discovery phase and 971 progressed HBV carriers versus 328 AsC in a replication phase.Multivariable logistic regression revealed that individuals with genotype TT at variant rs346473 displayed remarkable correlations with disease progression of HBV infection both in the discovery phase (OR,2.693; 95％ CI,1.928-3.760; P=6.2× 10-9;additive model) and the replication phase (OR,1.490; 95％ CI,1.104-2.012; P=9.0× 10-3; additive model).These two SNPs were in strong linkage disequilibrium with D'=0.99 and r2=0.951,and haplotype TT disclosed an increased susceptibility to HBV progression (OR,1.980; 95％ CI,1.538-2.545;P=8.1× 10-8).These findings suggest that polymorphism rs346473 in the ARHGAP24 gene might be a part of the genetic variants underlying the susceptibility of HBV carriers to disease progression.
ABSTRACT
In order to screen potential mRNA locations of P gene in which targeting siRNAs can effectively inhibit HBV expression, 5 recombinant plasmids containing 4 targeting-specific siRNA fragments and a control were prepared and transfected into 2.2.15 cells respectively. The expression levels of HBx mRNA, HBs mRNA and HBc mRNA were detected by RT-PCR. The concentrations of the hepatitis B virus antigens, including HBsAg and HBeAg harvested from the culture supernatant of transfected 2.2.15 cells, were measured by ELISA. X protein was tested by Western blot. The results showed that four siRNAs against distinct mRNA locations of HBV polymerse gene had different inhibitory effects on their targeted mRNA. The plasmid-derived psiRNAl and psiRNA2 could effectively inhibit the transcription and translation of HBs gene, whereas the inhibitory efficiency of psiRNA3, psiRNA4 for HBe gene was much higher than that of psiRNA1 and psiRNA2. In comparison to the rest of psiRNAs in this study, psiRNA4 was the most effective to suppress the transcription and translation of HBx. It is suggested that siRNA can be considered as a powerful therapeutic agent for reducing HBV expression. The siRNAs against HBV polymerase are effective largely depending on the location of targeted sites. To enhance inhibitory efficiency, hunting for high effective target in polymerase gene is necessary and feasible.