Evaluation of miR-222 Expression in HBV Infected Patients in Comparison withHDV and HBV Co-infected Patients

Background: liver disease is more severe in hdv+hbv co-infected patients than hbvinfected patients which seems to be related to differences in the expression of genesand other factors such as micrornas (mirnas). the aim of this study was to investigatemir-222 expression in hbv infected patients in comparison with hdv+hbv coinfectedpatients.methods: first, total rna was extracted from the serum samples and then, complementarydna (cdna) was produced using cdna synthesis kit. finally, mir-222 geneexpression was measured using u6 as the internal control by quantitative pcr (qpcr).results: the level of mir-222 expression in hdv+hbv co-infected samples was significantlyup regulated. the fold change of the mir-222 expression between two groupswas 3.3 (95% ci; 0.011- 17.63) with p<0.001.conclusion: the expression of mir-222 was higher in hbv+hdv co-infected patientsthan hbv infected patients. further studies should be conducted to confirm whethermir-222 can be a biomarker for prognosis of severe liver diseases.