Inhibition of hepatitis B virus replication by recombinant small interfering RNAs

RNA interference (RNAi) is a biological phenomenon in which introduction of a small, double-stranded interfering RNAs (siRNAs) into a cell causes a specific degradation of homologous single-stranded RNA. siRNA can be delivered into the cell by different approaches including synthetic RNA, in vitro transcribed RNA and RNA transcribed from polymerase III-based recombinant vectors. As hepatitis B (HB) represents a worldwide health problem, we attempted to develop a fast and easy approach to generation and screening of specific siRNA-targeted HB virus (HBV) genes. Using PCR amplification, specific siRNA expression cassettes (SECs) were developed and used to generate effective siRNAs against HB virus (HBV) replication and gene expression in mammalian cells. After screening, we identified two SECs that expressed siRNAs which efficiently decreased the level of HBV pre-c/c gene expression in transfected Bel-7402 cells by 81.9% and 87.3%, respectively. In addition, the level of HBV DNA was decreased by 83.5% and 85.2% in HepG2 2.2.15 cells, respectively. This study provides (i) a new effective application of RNA interference to study viral gene function and viral replication and (ii) a new tool for the prevention and treatment of human HBV infection.