Hepatitis B virus ribonucleic acid (HBV RNA)

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) RNAs are essential components of the HBV life cycle, consisting of several co-terminal transcripts produced from the viral covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) (Gish et al., 2023). These include the pregenomic RNA (pgRNA), which serves as the template for reverse transcription of the viral DNA genome, and various subgenomic RNAs that encode viral proteins such as the surface antigen (HBsAg) and polymerase (Testoni et al., 2020). By targeting these RNA molecules, therapeutic agents like antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) and small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) can silence the expression of all HBV proteins and block viral replication (Wooddell et al., 2020). This strategy is a cornerstone of efforts to achieve a functional cure for chronic hepatitis B, characterized by sustained HBsAg loss (Yuen et al., 2022). Reducing the viral protein burden is hypothesized to relieve the exhaustion of the host immune system, potentially allowing for the re-establishment of an effective anti-viral immune response (Fanning et al., 2019).

Other names

HBV transcriptsPregenomic RNApgRNASubgenomic RNAHBV mRNA

Degradation of viral RNA transcripts via RNA interference (siRNA) or antisense oligonucleotides (ASO) to inhibit viral protein synthesis and replication (Wooddell et al., 2020; Yuen et al., 2022).