Inhibition of HBV Replication by Delivering the Dual-gene Expression Vector pHsa-miR16-siRNA in HepG2.2.15 Cells

This study aimed to construct the dual-gene expression vector p Hsa-miR16-siRNA which can express human miR-16 and HBV X siRNA, and examine its regulatory effect on HBV gene expression in the HepG2.2.15 cell line. The expression vectors siR-1583 and pHsa-miR16-siRNA were designed and constructed. Hep G2.2.15 cells were transfected with the empty vector, siR-1583, pmiR-16 and pHsa-miR16-siRNA, respectively. ELISA was performed to measure the expression of HBsAg and HBeAg in the culture supernatant 48 and72 h post transfection. Fluorescence quantitative PCR was used to measure the HBV mRNA degradation efficiency and HBV DNA copy number. The results showed that the expression of HBV genes was significantly inhibited in Hep G2.2.15 cells transfected with siR-1583, pmiR-16 and pHsa-miR16-siRNA, respectively, when compared with that in cells transfected with the empty vectors, with the inhibitory effect of pHsa-miR16-siRNA being the most significant. ELISA showed that the inhibitory rates of HBs Ag and HBeAg in pHsa-miR16-siRNA transfected cells were correspondingly 87.3% and 85.0% at 48 h, and 88.6% and 86.5% at 72 h post transfection（P〈0.01 vs. control group）. RT-PCR showed that the level of HBV mRNA decreased by 80.2%（t=–99.22, P〈0.01）, the genomic HBV DNA by 92.8%（t=–73.06, P〈0.01）, and the supernatant of HBV DNA copy number by 89.8%（t=–47.13, P〈0.01） in pHsa-miR16-siRNA transfected group. It was suggested that the dual-gene expression vector pHsa-miR16-siRNA can inhibit the replication of HBV more efficiently than a single-gene expression vector.