Towards Cell-Permeable Hepatitis B Virus Core Protein Variants as Potential Antiviral Agents.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major health threat with limited treatment options. One of various new antiviral strategies is based on a fusion of Staphylococcus aureus nuclease (SN) with the capsid-forming HBV core protein (HBc), termed coreSN. Through co-assembly with wild-type HBc-subunits, the fusion protein is incorporated into HBV nucleocapsids, targeting the nuclease to the encapsidated viral genome. However, coreSN expression was based on transfection of a plasmid vector. Here, we explored whether introducing protein transduction domains (PTDs) into a fluorescent coreSN model could confer cell-penetrating properties for direct protein delivery into cells. Four PTDs were inserted into two different positions of the HBc sequence, comprising the amphiphilic translo

SUBMITTER: Bendahmane S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11434381 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature