en Other Other Original Article Original Article <p style="text-align: justify;">MicroRNAs are small non coding RNAs that are involved in gene expression regulation. Mir-122 was reported to inhibit hepatitis B virus (HBV), but little is known about the role of mir-122 polymorphisms on HBV infection development. This present study aimed to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in mir-122 gene region with HBV infection. Study cases were HBV positive and negative individuals. 67 SNPs in mir-122 gene and its flanking regions were analyzed by sequencing method. mirVas software was used to assay the impact of polymorphisms on the secondary structure of mir-122 gene. 66 out of 67 studied SNPs were monomorphic and rs 17669 was the only polymorphic SNP in the studied population, with the T allele being four times more frequent than the C allele. However, there was no significant difference in alleles distribution between patient and control groups. Rs 17669 variant located near the mir-122 gene showed the highest impact for centroid, maximal expected accuracy, and minimal free energy structures in the arm, flank, and flank regions of mir-122, respectively. Therefore, rs17669 variant was predicted to exert an effect on mir-122 stability. The study of larger samples from different ethnicities may help to find a possible association between rs17669 genotype and HBV infection.</p> Mir-122, HBV, single nucleotide polymorphism, rs17669, mirVas 1 7 http://ibbj.org/browse.php?a_code=A-10-32-3&slc_lang=en&sid=1 Sadegh Fattahi fattahi_pgs@yahoo.com 10031947532846002246 10031947532846002246 No Cellular and Molecular Department Mohammad Karimi Alivije fattahi_pgs@yahoo.com 10031947532846002247 10031947532846002247 No Department of Infectious Diseases Farhang Babamahmoodi fattahi_pgs@yahoo.com 10031947532846002248 10031947532846002248 No Department of Antimicrobial Resistance Research Center Masomeh Bayani fattahi_pgs@yahoo.com 10031947532846002249 10031947532846002249 No Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center Mahmoud Sadeghi-Haddad-Zavareh fattahi_pgs@yahoo.com 10031947532846002250 10031947532846002250 No Infectious Diseases and Tropical Medicine Research Center Mohsen Asouri Mohsen.asouri@yahoo.com 10031947532846002251 10031947532846002251 No Cellular and Molecular Department Maryam Lotfi Lotfi2545@yahoo.com 10031947532846002252 10031947532846002252 No Cellular and Molecular Department Galia Amirbozorgi galia1926@yahoo.com 10031947532846002253 10031947532846002253 No Cellular and Molecular Department Morteza Gholami biology.gholami@gmail.com 10031947532846002254 10031947532846002254 No Cellular and Molecular Department Haleh Akhavan-Niaki Halehakhavan@yahoo.com 10031947532846002255 10031947532846002255 Yes Department of Genetics