Inhibition of Hepatitis B Virus cccDNA by siRNA in Transgenic Mice

• DOI: 10.1007/s12013-014-9847-1
• Publication Date: 2014-02-25T10:15:37Z
• Authors: Guiqiu Li; Guotao Jiang; Juan Lu; Shulan Chen; Lanying Cui; Jundong Jiao; Yongchen Wang
• Keywords: cccDNA

The elimination of viral covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) from the nucleus of infected hepatocytes is an obstacle to achieving sustained viral clearance during antiviral therapy of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. The aim of our study was to determine whether treatment with siRNA is able to suppress viral cccDNA amplification using a HBV-transgenic mice model. The experimental results revealed that siRNAs can serve as efficient alternative anti-HBV agents, because they showed better inhibitory effect on viral replication and antigen expression in transgenic mice. More importantly, the siRNA markedly inhibited HBV cccDNA amplification.