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Ding et al. Hepatoma Res 2019;5:10 Hepatoma Research
DOI: 10.20517/2394-5079.2018.115

Review Open Access

Novel insights of HBV RNA in hepatitis B virus
pathogenesis and clinical application

Wen-Bin Ding , Meng-Chao Wang , Jia-Ning Zhang , Da-Peng Sun , Jun-Peng Dong , Wei-Ping Zhou , Fu
1
2
1
1
1
1
Yang 2
1 The Third Department of Hepatic Surgery, Eastern Hepatobiliary Hospital, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200438, China.
2 Department of Medical Genetics, Naval Medical University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Correspondence to: Dr. Fu Yang, Department of Medical Genetics, Naval Medical University, 800 Xiangyin Road, Shanghai 200433,
China. E-mail: yangfusq1997@smmu.edu.cn; Dr. Wei-Ping Zhou, The Third Department of Hepatic Surgery, Eastern Hepatobiliary
Hospital, Naval Medical University, 225 Changhai Road, Shanghai 200438, China. E-mail: ehphwp3@126.com
How to cite this article: Ding WB, Wang MC, Zhang JN, Sun DP, Dong JP, Zhou WP, Yang F. Novel insights of HBV RNA in hepatitis B
virus pathogenesis and clinical application. Hepatoma Res 2019;5:10. http://dx.doi.org/10.20517/2394-5079.2018.115

Received: 17 Dec 2018 First Decision: 10 Jan 2019 Revised: 20 Feb 2019 Accepted: 22 Feb 2019 Published: 2 Apr 2019

Science Editor: Guang-Wen Cao Copy Editor: Cai-Hong Wang Production Editor: Huan-Liang Wu

Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is still a severe health problem in the world, and chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is the major
cause of serious HBV-related complications, including fibrosis, hepatic failure, and hepatocellular carcinoma. It is difficult
for CHB patients to achieve complete cure as the currently available antiviral drugs can hardly eradicate covalently closed
circular DNA (cccDNA) in the infected liver. Since detecting intrahepatic cccDNA needs invasive procedure, it is urgent
to find a noninvasive indicator to reflect the activity of cccDNA. Recently, growing numbers of studies have indicated that
serum HBV RNA could be regarded as a new biomarker for CHB activity. In order to illustrate the molecular biology and
clinical characteristics of HBV RNA, we systematically reviewed the latest research to summarize the role of HBV RNA
in HBV replication and pathogenicity, and to better estimate its potential function as a remarkable biomarker in clinical
application. Meanwhile, we will also point out the deficiencies of current research, and discuss the future direction of
HBV RNA study.

Keywords: Hepatitis B virus, pregenomic RNA, serum biomarker, chronic hepatitis B, hepatocellular carcinoma,
cirrhosis

INTRODUCTION
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is one of the most common communicable diseases, with over 240 million
[1]
people chronically infected all over the world . Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is the major etiological cause
© The Author(s) 2019. Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
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