Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) can integrate into the chromosomes of infected hepatocytes, contributing to the production of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and to hepatocarcinogenesis. We performed spatial transcriptomics to investigate the intrahepatic cell heterogeneity and the spatial distribution of transcriptionally active HBV integration events in different phases of chronic HBV infection. Our analysis revealed that transcriptionally active HBV integration occurred in chronically HBV-infected patients in different phases, including those patients with HBsAg loss, and antiviral treatment was associated with a decreased number and extent of viral integrations.
Project description:Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) secretion may impact the immune response in chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Therapeutic approaches to suppress HBsAg production are being investigated. Our study aims to examine the immunomodulatory effects of high and low levels of circulating HBsAg by analyzing single-cell RNA sequencing data (scRNAseq) from blood and liver fine-needle aspirates (FNA). This will help to better understand anti-HBV immunity.
Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an enveloped, coated, non-cytopathic and hepatotropic partially double-stranded DNA virus in the family Hepadnaviridae genus Orthohepadnavirus. Despite significant progress in the availability of safe vaccines and antiviral therapies against HBV, it still affects approximately 257 million people worldwide and is responsible for about 887,000 deaths per year around the world [4]. HBV infection, which are associated with acute and chronic liver failure responses to viruses attacked the liver, can result in inactive carrier state, chronic hepatitis, or fulminant hepatitis and put them at high risk to develop advanced liver fibrosis and cirrhosis, and even hepatocellular cancer. Many viral factors, which could affect the disparity of clinical outcomes or disease prognosis during chronic HBV infection, have been reported in previous studies; among them, the viral genotype, as well as HBV mutations ascribing the virus to a certain phenotype, was reported to be the most important factor influencing viral pathogenesis, including the change of host immune recognition, the enhanced virulence with increased HBV replication and the facilitation of cell attachment or penetration.
Project description:Background & Aims: Nucleoporin 153 (NUP153) is known to facilitate the nuclear entry of the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) nucleocapsid. Studies had also showed that immature hepatitis B virus (HBV) nucleocapsids can be arrested by NUP153, allowing them to further mature. In this study, we investigated the impact and specific mechanisms of NUP153 on HBV replication. Methods: NUP153 was knocked down using RNA interference or over-expressed through an expression plasmid in HBV cell models or in vivo in HBV-replicating mice. Luciferase reporter assays were employed to assess the activities of viral or host factor promoters. Cytoplasmic and nuclear fractionation experiments were conducted to analyze the subcellular distribution of proteins and HBV RNA. Results: In the present study, we found that HBV induced significant upregulation of NUP153 mRNA and protein in HBV cell models and HBV infected patients. Overexpression of NUP153 would markedly increase covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) transcription activity and progeny virus production, while downregulation of NUP153 could significantly inhibit HBV replication without affecting HBV cccDNA level directly. Similar results were observed in mice model hydrodynamically injected (HDI) with 1.2×HBV plasmid. HBV promoter assays revealed that NUP153 could promote HBV core promoter activity, likely in a hepatocyte nuclear factor 4α (HNF4α) dependent manner. Mechanistically, ERK signaling was required for NUP153-mediated promotion of HNF4α and HBV replication. Conclusions: The study here suggested that host factor NUP153 which reciprocally upregulated by the virus, is an important positive regulator of HBV replication. It also suggested that the NUP153-HBV positive feedback loop could serve as a potential therapeutic target.
Project description:Here, we examined the host response relative of SACC-PHHs infected with either hepatitis B virus (HBV) alone or both HBV/hepatitis delta virus (HDV) co-infection compared to non-infected controls.
Project description:We applied small RNA Solexa sequencing technology to identify microRNA expression in human liver samples from surgically removed liver tissues including three normal liver tissues (distal normal liver tissue of liver hemangioma), an hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected liver, a severe chronic hepatitis B liver, two HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), an hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC, and an HCC without HBV or HCV infection. All samples were collected with the informed consent of the patients and the experiments were approved by the ethics committee of Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China. We investigated the miRNome in human normal liver and suggested some deregulated abundantly expressed microRNAs in HCC. center_name: National Key Laboratory of Medical Immunology & Institute of Immunology, Second Military Medical University, Shanghai, China. Examination of miRNome in human liver samples from surgically removed liver tissues including three normal liver tissues (distal normal liver tissue of liver hemangioma), an hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected liver tissue, a severe chronic hepatitis B liver tissue, an HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) tissue and adjacent liver tissues of different regions,an HBV-related HCC tissue and adjacent liver tissue, an hepatitis C virus (HCV)-related HCC tissue and adjacent liver tissue, and an HCC without HBV or HCV infection and adjacent liver tissue. All 15 human liver tissue samples.
Project description:Background and Aims: Whether hepatitis B virus (HBV) could play a direct role in hepatocarcinogenesis remains uncertain. The 3' end nonsense mutations of HBV PreS/S gene have been found to encode transcriptional transactivation activity, suggesting these mutations may contribute to HBV-associated oncogenesis. Recently, we have identified a potent oncogenic HBV surface (S) gene nonsense mutant sW182*. Results: Gene expression microarray study revealed that sW182* mutant was significantly enriched by gene sets associated with cell cycle regulation, DNA repair, or genome instability. The transforming growth factor-induced (TGFBI) gene was downregulated in the sW182* mutant clones, and irresponsive to TGF- treatment. The level of Cyclin D1, a negatively regulated TGFBI target, was highly elevated in sW182* mutant cells. Exogenous expression of TGFBI alleviated the oncogenic activity of sW182* in mouse xenograft study. In human HBV-related HCC cancerous tissue, expression of TGFBI was downregulated in 25 of the 55 (45%) patients. Conclusions: Dysregulation of transforming growth factor-induced (TGFBI) gene is involved in the oncogenic activity of the sW182* mutant of hepatitis B virus S gene. This has never been described before. NIH3T3 cells were stably transfected with plasmids encoding the wild type PreS/S gene or the nonsense mutant (sW182*) of HBV PreS/S gene. Totoal RNAs were extracted from those stable clones for gene expression microarray analysis using Illumina MouseRef-8 V2 BeadChip.
Project description:The pathological and physiological characteristics between HBsAg-positive HBV infection and occult hepatitis B infection (OBI) are currently unclear. This study aimed to explore the immune microenvironment in the peripheral circulation of OBI patients through proteomic sequencing, and to identify molecular biomarkers for clinical diagnosis of HBsAg-positive HBV and OBI. This research involved collection of plasma from 20 patients with OBI (negative for HBsAg but positive for HBV DNA, with HBV DNA levels < 200 IU/mL), 20 patients with HBsAg-positive HBV infection, and 10 healthy individuals. Mass spectrometry-based detection was used to analyze the proteome.
Project description:Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a leading cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer, representing a global health problem for which a functional cure is difficult to achieve. The HBV core protein (HBc) is essential for multiple steps in the viral life cycle; it is the building block of the nucleocapsid in which viral DNA reverse transcription occurs, and it mediates viral–host cell interactions critical to HBV infection persistence. However, systematic studies targeting HBc-interacting proteins remain lacking. An engineered ascorbate peroxidase called APEX2, is genetically targeted to a cellular region of interest and biochemically labeled neighboring proteins within living cells. Cells are then lysed, and biotinylated proteins are enriched with streptavidin beads and identified by mass spectrometry.Here, we combined HBc with the engineered ascorbate peroxidase 2 (APEX2) to systematically identify HBc-related proteins in living cells.