Exosomal lncRNA HOTTIP Mediates Antiviral Effect of Tenofovir Alafenamide (TAF) on HBV Infection

Qing-Min Liu; Yi-Yu He; Li-Li Liu; Li-Kun Wang

doi:10.2147/JIR.S315716

Exosomal lncRNA HOTTIP Mediates Antiviral Effect of Tenofovir Alafenamide (TAF) on HBV Infection

J Inflamm Res. 2021 Oct 23:14:5489-5500. doi: 10.2147/JIR.S315716. eCollection 2021.

Authors

Qing-Min Liu^#¹, Yi-Yu He^#², Li-Li Liu³, Li-Kun Wang⁴

Affiliations

¹ Intensive Care Unit, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.
² Department of Cardiovascular Disease, Renmin Hospital of Wuhan University, Wuhan, Hubei Province, People's Republic of China.
³ Department of Pathology, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.
⁴ Infection Control Center, Linyi People's Hospital, Linyi, Shandong Province, People's Republic of China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic hepatitis B (CHB) virus (HBV) infection has emerged as a global health burden affecting nearly 292 million people. Tenofovir alafenamide (TAF) is an effective treatment for CHB patients. However, the detailed mechanism underlying the antiviral activity of TAF remains unclear.

Methods: In this study, we investigated the antiviral effect of exosomes derived from the serum of CHB patients treated with TAF (Exo-serum) and TAF-treated macrophages (MP) (Exo-MP(TAF)).

Results: RNAseq analysis was also performed to determine the associated long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs). The results demonstrated that both Exo-serum and Exo-MP(TAF) could be taken up by HepAD38 cells and exhibited potent antiviral activities, as manifested by significantly downregulating the levels of hepatitis B surface antigen, hepatitis B e antigen, HBV DNA, and covalently closed circular DNA. The antiviral effect of Exo-serum was more potent than those of TAF treatment alone. RNAseq analysis revealed that lncRNA HOTTIP was upregulated significantly in Exo-serum. Further, lncRNA HOTTIP knockdown reversed the antiviral effect of Exo-MP(TAF) on HepAD38 cells, whereas lncRNA HOTTIP knockdown exerted the opposite roles.

Discussion: Taken together, these results suggest that exosomal lncRNA HOTTIP is essential for the antiviral activity of TAF and provide a novel understanding of the exosome-mediated mechanism underlying HBV infection.

Keywords: chronic hepatitis B; exosome; lncRNA HOTTIP; tenofovir alafenamide.

Grants and funding

This study was supported by the Natural Science Foundation of Shandong Province, No. ZR2014HM081; Shandong Province Medical and Health Science and Technology Development Plan, No. 2015WS0378; National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81800444; and Natural Science Foundation of Hubei Province, No. 2018CFB415.