The interplay of long noncoding RNAs and hepatitis B virus

Abstract Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) infections remain a major global health burden with an estimated 296 million people living with a chronic infection and 884,000 HBV‐related deaths annually. Notably, patients with a chronic hepatitis B (CHB) infection are at a 30‐fold greater risk of developing hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the most common type of primary liver cancer, which is the 3rd deadliest cancer worldwide. Several groups have assessed HBV‐related aberrant expression of host‐cell long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) and how altered expression of specific lncRNAs affects HBV replication and progression to associated disease states. Given the challenges in establishing effective HBV models and analyzing transcriptomic data, this review focuses on lncRNA expression data primarily collected from clinical patient samples and primary human hepatocytes, with the subsequent mechanism of action analysis in cell lines or other model systems. Ultimately, understanding HBV‐induced lncRNA‐expression dysregulation could lead to new treatments and biomarkers for HBV infection and its associated diseases.