The second extracellular loop dictates Occludin-mediated HCV entry.

ABSTRACT: Recent findings have implicated tight junction (TJ) protein Occludin (OCLN) as an essential factor for hepatitis C virus (HCV) to enter human hepatocytes. To gain insights into OCLN-mediated HCV entry, we created a panel of OCLN deletion mutants and found that without impairing OCLN's cell surface localization, removal of the extracellular loop 2 (EL2) from OCLN abolished both its ability to mediate HIV-HCV pseudotypes' (HCVpp) entry as well as its ability to coprecipitate HCV glycoprotein E2. Recombinant OCLN EL2, however, failed to robustly bind soluble E2 (sE2) in pull-down assays. Subsequent studies revealed that OCLN formed complex with Dynamin II, an important GTPase for endocytosis, in an EL2-dependent fashion. HCVpp, as well as cell culture grown HCV (HCVcc), was sensitive to Dynam

SUBMITTER: Liu S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2946412 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature