M icroRNAs (miRNAs) are a large family of small (ϳ21-nucleotide [nt]) noncoding RNAs that interact with complementary target sites in their target mRNAs to induce translational repression, deadenylation, and degradation (1). However, the reciprocal effect of target mRNA on miRNA activity is largely unknown. is the most abundant liverspecific miRNA, accounting for approximately 70% of the total miRNA population in the adult liver (2). It has been found to play key roles in liver development and hepatic function (3, 4), hepatocyte growth, neoplastic transformation and tumorigenicity (5-8), lipid metabolism (9, 10), and regulation of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication (11-13).HBV is a small (ϳ3.2 kb), enveloped, partially doublestranded DNA virus. The HBV genome contains four overlapping open reading frames (ORFs). The RNA transcripts are polyadenylated; capped; 3.5, 2.4, 2.1, and 0.7 kb in length; and named the pre-C/C or pregenomic RNA (pgRNA), pre-S, S, and X mRNAs, respectively. These mRNAs encode several overlapping viral proteins, including the polymerase, core, HBe, pre-S1, S2, S, and X proteins (14). There are approximately 350 million chronic HBV carriers worldwide, and chronic HBV infection is the major etiological factor in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (15, 16). The relative risk for the development of HCC in chronic hepatitis B (CHB) patients is estimated to be 25 to 100 times higher than that in those without infection (15,17,18).Several possible pathways and molecular mechanisms have been reported for the involvement of HBV infection in malignant transformation of liver cells, including both direct and indirect mechanisms that likely act synergistically. Direct effects by viral factors include HBV DNA integration into the hepatocyte genome (which acts via cis-or trans-activation of nearby genes or enhances host chromosomal instability), the antiapoptotic and procarcinogenic functions of the HBx and truncated pre-S2/S viral proteins, and HBV mutants and genotypes (14,15,19,20). The indirect effects of chronic viral infection on malignant transformation include persistent inflammation and liver cirrhosis (which may significantly contribute to the transformation of hepatocytes and promote hepatocarcinogenesis through an integrated multistep process [21,22]), aberrant DNA methylation of specific cellular genes (23), and host susceptibility (24). However, the molecular mechanisms underlying HBV-induced carcinogenesis remain elusive and await further investigation (14, 15).Our previous study showed that loss of miR-122 induced by HBV infection enhances HBV replication through cyclin G1-modulated p53 activity, thereby possibly contributing to viral persistence (25). Moreover, miR-122 repression is only found in HCC arising in HBV-infected livers but not in HCV-infected liv-