FIGURE 1.

HBx targets miR-661. A, transcriptional levels of miR-661 and MTA1 in HepG2 cells expressing HBx and control were quantified by real-time PCR. U6 RNA was used as an internal control for miR-661 quantification. The levels of mRNA for MTA1 were normalized to that of β-actin mRNA. B, HBx regulates the MTA1 3′-UTR reporter. HepG2 cells were co-transfected with HBx expression plasmid and MTA1 3′-UTR reporter construct. Luciferase reporter assay was performed after 48 h of transfection. All experiments were repeated three times, and data are shown as mean ± S.D. in -fold change compared with control.