No abstract

Non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs) play a vital role in the diagnosis and treatment of hepatitis B virus (HBV). ncRNAs include major classes, such as microRNAs (miRNAs/miRs) and long ncRNAs (lncRNAs). The present study focused on miR-100 and metastasis-associated lung adenocarcinoma transcript 1 (MALAT1) single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and their expression levels. In addition to their dual effect on susceptibility to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, new molecular biomarkers of HBV infection are suggested. In the present study, 100 patients with HBV infection vs. 100 healthy controls were enrolled. miR-100 SNP (rs1834306T/C) was detected using the polymerase chain reaction sequence-specific primers technique, while MALAT1 SNP (rs619586A/G) was detected using the restriction fragment length polymorphism-PCR technique. Their expression levels were measured using reverse transcription-quantitative PCR. As per the miR-100 genotyping results, the TC genotype represented the most frequent genotype in all subjects. However, in MALAT1 SNP, only the dominant AA genotype was detected. A significant upregulation of both miR-100 (P<0.01) and MALAT1 (P<0.05) expression was observed in the patient group compared to the controls. A positive correlation was found between the viral load and an elevation in miR-100 and MALAT1 expression levels (r=0.508, P<0.01; and r=0.282, P<0.05, respectively). On the whole, the present study demonstrates that miR-100 and MALAT1 may be considered as potential molecular markers for the prognosis of patients with HBV infection. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first observational prospective case-control study to scrutinize all the possible correlations between miR-100 (rs1834306T/C) and MALAT1 (rs619586A/SNPs) and their expression levels. Further extensive studies with large sample sizes are recommended to confirm the findings obtained herein.