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Berke JM, Tan Y, Sauviller S, Wu DT, Zhang K, Conceição-Neto N, Blázquez Moreno A, Kong D, Kukolj G, Li C, Zhu R, Nájera I, Pauwels F. Class A capsid assembly modulator apoptotic elimination of hepatocytes with high HBV core antigen level in vivo is dependent on de novo core protein translation. J Virol 2024; 98:e0150223. [PMID: 38315015 PMCID: PMC10949496 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01502-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Accepted: 12/19/2023] [Indexed: 02/07/2024] Open
Abstract
Capsid assembly is critical in the hepatitis B virus (HBV) life cycle, mediated by the viral core protein. Capsid assembly is the target for new anti-viral therapeutics known as capsid assembly modulators (CAMs) of which the CAM-aberrant (CAM-A) class induces aberrant shaped core protein structures and leads to hepatocyte cell death. This study aimed to identify the mechanism of action of CAM-A modulators leading to HBV-infected hepatocyte elimination where CAM-A-mediated hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) reduction was evaluated in a stable HBV replicating cell line and in AAV-HBV-transduced C57BL/6, C57BL/6 SCID, and HBV-infected chimeric mice with humanized livers. Results showed that in vivo treatment with CAM-A modulators induced pronounced reductions in hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and HBsAg, associated with a transient alanine amino transferase (ALT) increase. Both HBsAg and HBeAg reductions and ALT increase were delayed in C57BL/6 SCID and chimeric mice, suggesting that adaptive immune responses may indirectly contribute. However, CD8+ T cell depletion in transduced wild-type mice did not impact antigen reduction, indicating that CD8+ T cell responses are not essential. Transient ALT elevation in AAV-HBV-transduced mice coincided with a transient increase in endoplasmic reticulum stress and apoptosis markers, followed by detection of a proliferation marker. Microarray data revealed antigen presentation pathway (major histocompatibility complex class I molecules) upregulation, overlapping with the apoptosis. Combination treatment with HBV-specific siRNA demonstrated that CAM-A-mediated HBsAg reduction is dependent on de novo core protein translation. To conclude, CAM-A treatment eradicates HBV-infected hepatocytes with high core protein levels through the induction of apoptosis, which can be a promising approach as part of a regimen to achieve functional cure. IMPORTANCE Treatment with hepatitis B virus (HBV) capsid assembly modulators that induce the formation of aberrant HBV core protein structures (CAM-A) leads to programmed cell death, apoptosis, of HBV-infected hepatocytes and subsequent reduction of HBV antigens, which differentiates CAM-A from other CAMs. The effect is dependent on the de novo synthesis and high levels of core protein.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jan Martin Berke
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen Research and Development, Turnhoutseweg, Beerse, Belgium
| | - Ying Tan
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Jinchuang Mansion, Pudong, Shanghai, China
| | - Sarah Sauviller
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen Research and Development, Turnhoutseweg, Beerse, Belgium
| | - Dai-tze Wu
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Jinchuang Mansion, Pudong, Shanghai, China
| | - Ke Zhang
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Jinchuang Mansion, Pudong, Shanghai, China
| | - Nádia Conceição-Neto
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen Research and Development, Turnhoutseweg, Beerse, Belgium
| | - Alfonso Blázquez Moreno
- Infectious Diseases Biomarkers, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen Research and Development, Turnhoutseweg, Beerse, Belgium
| | - Desheng Kong
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Jinchuang Mansion, Pudong, Shanghai, China
| | - George Kukolj
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Brisbane, California, USA
| | - Chris Li
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Brisbane, California, USA
| | - Ren Zhu
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Jinchuang Mansion, Pudong, Shanghai, China
| | - Isabel Nájera
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Janssen Research and Development, Brisbane, California, USA
| | - Frederik Pauwels
- Infectious Diseases Discovery, Infectious Diseases and Vaccines, Janssen Research and Development, Turnhoutseweg, Beerse, Belgium
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Ariffianto A, Deng L, Abe T, Matsui C, Ito M, Ryo A, Aly HH, Watashi K, Suzuki T, Mizokami M, Matsuura Y, Shoji I. Oxidative stress sensor Keap1 recognizes HBx protein to activate the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway, thereby inhibiting hepatitis B virus replication. J Virol 2023; 97:e0128723. [PMID: 37800948 PMCID: PMC10617466 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.01287-23] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/21/2023] [Accepted: 08/22/2023] [Indexed: 10/07/2023] Open
Abstract
IMPORTANCE The Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (Keap1)/NF-E2-related factor 2 (Nrf2)/antioxidant response element (ARE) signaling pathway is one of the most important defense mechanisms against oxidative stress. We previously reported that a cellular hydrogen peroxide scavenger protein, peroxiredoxin 1, a target gene of transcription factor Nrf2, acts as a novel HBV X protein (HBx)-interacting protein and negatively regulates hepatitis B virus (HBV) propagation through degradation of HBV RNA. This study further demonstrates that the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway is activated during HBV infection, eventually leading to the suppression of HBV replication. We provide evidence suggesting that Keap1 interacts with HBx, leading to Nrf2 activation and inhibition of HBV replication via suppression of HBV core promoter activity. This study raises the possibility that activation of the Nrf2/ARE signaling pathway is a potential therapeutic strategy against HBV. Our findings may contribute to an improved understanding of the negative regulation of HBV replication by the antioxidant response.
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Affiliation(s)
- Adi Ariffianto
- Division of Infectious Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
- Faculty of Medicine, Public Health and Nursing, Universitas Gadjah Mada, Yogyakarta, Indonesia
| | - Lin Deng
- Division of Infectious Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
| | - Takayuki Abe
- Division of Infectious Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
| | - Chieko Matsui
- Division of Infectious Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
| | - Masahiko Ito
- Department of Virology and Parasitology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
| | - Akihide Ryo
- Department of Virology III, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Hussein Hassan Aly
- Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Koichi Watashi
- Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
- Research Center for Drug and Vaccine Development, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Tokyo, Japan
| | - Tetsuro Suzuki
- Department of Virology and Parasitology, Hamamatsu University School of Medicine, Hamamatsu, Japan
| | - Masashi Mizokami
- Research Center for Hepatitis and Immunology, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, Ichikawa, Japan
| | - Yoshiharu Matsuura
- Center for Infectious Disease Education and Research (CiDER), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
- Laboratory of Virus Control, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases (RIMD), Osaka University, Osaka, Japan
| | - Ikuo Shoji
- Division of Infectious Disease Control, Center for Infectious Diseases, Kobe University Graduate School of Medicine, Kobe, Japan
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Zang J, Liu M, Liu H, Ding L. A molecular simulation study of hepatitis B virus core protein and the nuclear protein allosteric modulators of phthalazinone derivatives. Phys Chem Chem Phys 2022; 24:23209-23225. [PMID: 36129214 DOI: 10.1039/d2cp02946d] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus, causing hepatitis, cirrhosis, liver failure, and liver cancer, poses a serious threat to human health, and the currently approved drugs still cannot eliminate the virus completely. HBV core protein allosteric modulators (CpAMs) with a phthalazinone structure which targets the HBV core (HBc) protein have been seen as a new kind of drug because of their excellent antiviral effects. This study explores the structure-activity relationship and binding mechanism of phthalazinone molecules through three-dimensional quantitative structure-activity relationship (3D-QSAR), molecular docking, molecular dynamics, and binding free energy calculation and decomposition studies. In addition, CoMFA and CoMSIA models revealed that the steric field, the hydrophobic field, and the hydrogen bond acceptor field may play important roles in the binding process. The molecular docking and dynamics disclosed the most likely binding pose of phthalazinone derivatives with the HBc protein. The binding free energy calculation and decomposition analysis indicated that the van der Waals force was the driving force and that ValE124, ThrD109, ThrE128, LeuD140, IleD105, PheD110, ThrD33, and TrpD102 were the key residues. This study provides an important theoretical basis for the design and optimization of phthalazinone compounds.
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Affiliation(s)
- Jieying Zang
- Collaborative Innovation Center of New Drug Research and Safety Evaluation, Henan Province, Key Laboratory of Technology of Drug Preparation (Zhengzhou University), Ministry of Education of China, Key Laboratory of Henan Province for Drug Quality and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.
| | - Min Liu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of New Drug Research and Safety Evaluation, Henan Province, Key Laboratory of Technology of Drug Preparation (Zhengzhou University), Ministry of Education of China, Key Laboratory of Henan Province for Drug Quality and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.
| | - Huan Liu
- Collaborative Innovation Center of New Drug Research and Safety Evaluation, Henan Province, Key Laboratory of Technology of Drug Preparation (Zhengzhou University), Ministry of Education of China, Key Laboratory of Henan Province for Drug Quality and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.
| | - Lina Ding
- Collaborative Innovation Center of New Drug Research and Safety Evaluation, Henan Province, Key Laboratory of Technology of Drug Preparation (Zhengzhou University), Ministry of Education of China, Key Laboratory of Henan Province for Drug Quality and Evaluation, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou 450001, P. R. China.
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Murai K, Kodama T, Hikita H, Shimoda A, Fukuoka M, Fukutomi K, Shigeno S, Shiode Y, Motooka D, Higuchi Y, Miyakawa K, Suemizu H, Ryo A, Tahata Y, Makino Y, Yamada R, Sakamori R, Tatsumi T, Takehara T. Inhibition of nonhomologous end joining-mediated DNA repair enhances anti-HBV CRISPR therapy. Hepatol Commun 2022; 6:2474-2487. [PMID: 35608131 PMCID: PMC9426388 DOI: 10.1002/hep4.2014] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 02/16/2022] [Revised: 04/25/2022] [Accepted: 05/02/2022] [Indexed: 11/08/2022] Open
Abstract
Current anti-hepatitis B virus (HBV) therapies have little effect on covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and fail to eliminate HBV. The clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeat (CRISPR)/Cas9 system has been reported to directly target cccDNA and exert antiviral effects. In this study, we hypothesized that the inhibition of the DNA repair machinery, which is important for the repair of CRISPR-induced double-strand breaks, may enhance the effect of CRISPR targeting cccDNA, and we investigated the antiviral effect of potential combination therapy. The antiviral effect of CRISPR targeting cccDNA (HBV-CRISPR) was evaluated in HBV-susceptible HepG2-hNTCP-C4 cells expressing Cas9 (HepG2-hNTCP-C4-iCas9) or primary human hepatocytes (PHHs) expressing Cas9. Following HBV infection, HBV-CRISPR reduced cccDNA levels, accompanied by decreases in pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) levels and supernatant HBV DNA, hepatitis B surface antigen and hepatitis B e antigen levels in HepG2-hNTCP-C4-iCas9 cells, and PHHs. HBV-CRISPR induced indel formation in cccDNA and up-regulated poly(adenosine diphosphate ribose) polymerase (PARP) activity in HBV-infected HepG2-hNTCP-C4-iCas9 cells. The suppression of PARP2-Histone PARylation factor 1 (HPF1) (involved in the initial step of DNA repair) with small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting either PARP2 or HPF1 increased the reduction in pgRNA and cccDNA by HBV-CRISPR in HBV-infected HepG2-hNTCP-C4-iCas9 cells. The suppression of DNA Ligase 4 (LIG4) (essential for nonhomologous end joining [NHEJ]) but not breast cancer susceptibility gene (BRCA) (essential for homologous recombination) enhanced the antiviral effect of HBV-CRISPR in HBV-infected HepG2-hNTCP-C4-iCas9 cells. Finally, the clinically available PARP inhibitor olaparib increased the reductions in pgRNA and cccDNA levels induced by HBV-CRISPR in HBV-infected HepG2-hNTCP-C4-iCas9 cells and PHHs. Conclusion: The suppression of the NHEJ-mediated DNA repair machinery enhances the effect of CRISPR targeting cccDNA. The combination of CRISPR and olaparib may represent a therapy for HBV elimination.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kazuhiro Murai
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Takahiro Kodama
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Hayato Hikita
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Akiyoshi Shimoda
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Makoto Fukuoka
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Keisuke Fukutomi
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Satoshi Shigeno
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Yuto Shiode
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Daisuke Motooka
- Genome Information Research Center, Research Institute for Microbial Diseases, Osaka University, Suita, Japan
| | - Yuichiro Higuchi
- Laboratory Animal Research Department, Biomedical Research Laboratory, Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kawasaki, Japan
| | - Kei Miyakawa
- Department of Microbiology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Hiroshi Suemizu
- Laboratory Animal Research Department, Biomedical Research Laboratory, Central Institute for Experimental Animals, Kawasaki, Japan
| | - Akihide Ryo
- Department of Microbiology, Yokohama City University School of Medicine, Yokohama, Japan
| | - Yuki Tahata
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Yuki Makino
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Ryoko Yamada
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Ryotaro Sakamori
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Tomohide Tatsumi
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
| | - Tetsuo Takehara
- Department of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Osaka University Graduate School of Medicine, Suita, Japan
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