HBV transcription repression in response to genotoxic stress is p53-dependent and abrogated by pX

Role of HBx and truncated HBx in HBV replication

As one of the principal causes of liver diseases, such as chronic hepatitis B, hepatic cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has been a major health problem worldwide. It is estimated that more than 500 million individuals have been infected with HBV worldwide and 1 million die of HBV infection-associated diseases annually. HBV X protein (HBx) is a multifunctional protein that can modulate various cellular processes and plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of HCC. In recent years, the role of HBx in HBV replication has been more or less confirmed. In addition, more and more natural HBx truncated mutants and their roles in HBV replication have been found. This review aims to elucidate the roles of HBx and truncated HBx in HBV replication.

Interference with p53 functions in human viral infections, a target for novel antiviral strategies?

Viral infections cause a major stress in host cells. The cellular responses to stress are mediated by p53, which by deregulation of cell cycle and apoptosis, may also be part of the host cell reaction to fight infections. Therefore, during evolutionary viral adaptation to host organisms, viruses have developed strategies to manipulate host cell p53 dependent pathways to facilitate their viral life cycles. Thus, interference with p53 function is an important component in viral pathogenesis. Many viruses have proteins that directly affect p53, whereas others alter the regulation of p53 in an indirect manner, mediated by Hdm2 or Akt, or induction of interferon. Rescue of p53 activity is becoming an area of therapeutic development in oncology. It might be feasible that manipulation of p53 mediated responses can become a therapeutic option to limit viral replication or dissemination. In this report, the mechanisms by which viral proteins manipulate p53 responses are reviewed, and it is proposed that a pharmacological rescue of p53 functions might help to control viral infections.

Interaction of mutant hepatitis B X protein with p53 tumor suppressor protein affects both transcription and cell survival

This study examines the differential activities between wild-type Hepatitis B virus X protein (WtHBx) and a mutant HBx (MutHBx), which bears a hotspot mutation at nucleotides 1,762 and 1,764, resulting in a lysine to methionine change at codon 130 and a valine to isoleucine change at codon 131. This mutation leads to hepatocellular carcinoma, and we evaluated how WtHBx and MutHBx proteins differ in their interactions with the p53 tumor suppressor protein. This was experimentally addressed through co-immunoprecipitation assays examining the interaction between WtHBx and MutHBx proteins with p53, reporter assays determining the impact of the HBx proteins on p53-mediated gene transcription, and clonogenic survival assays evaluating the effect of HBx on cell growth in lines of varying p53-expression status. Both WtHBx and MutHBx proteins physically interact with p53 protein, but have different impacts on p53-mediated gene transcription. WtHBx did not effect p53-mediated gene transcription, whereas MutHBx inhibited it (P < 0.01). MutHBx inhibited colony formation in p53-proficient cells (P < 0.01), but not p53-deficient lines. Although both HBx proteins interact with p53, they affect p53-mediated gene transcription differently. WtHBx has no effect, whereas MutHBx inhibits it. In clonogenic survival assays, MutHBx inhibited cell growth in p53-proficient cells rather than enhanced it. This suggests that for MutHBx to behave oncogenically, the p53 pathway must be crippled or absent. This study has identified some important novel ways in which WtHBx and MutHBx differentially interact with p53 and this could begin to form the cellular explanation for the association between this particular mutant and liver cancer.

The role of anti-core antibody response in the detection of occult hepatitis B virus infection

Occult hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is characterized by the presence of HBV DNA in serum and/or in the liver of patients negative for hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg). Occult infection may impact in several different clinical contexts including the risk of HBV transmission with transfusion or transplantation, and endogenous viral reactivation. The gold standard test for detection of occult infection is the amplification of HBV DNA. However, the serological assay for the long-lasting antibody response to the highly immunogenic HBV core antigen (anti-HBc) represents a qualified candidate as a surrogate for DNA amplification, or for increasing overall sensitivity when assessing the risk of occult hepatitis in peripheral blood. The risk of occult hepatitis associated with anti-HBc seropositivity has been demonstrated extensively, and the presence of antibody response to HBc can be considered a sentinel marker of occult HBV infection.

High-level expression and large-scale preparation of soluble HBx antigen from Escherichia coli

The HBx (hepatitis B virus X protein) is a multifunctional regulator of cellular signal transduction and transcription pathways in host-infected cells. Evidence suggests that HBx has a critical role in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the lack of efficient large-scale preparation methods for soluble HBx has hindered studies on the structure and function of HBx. Here, a new pMAL-c2x protein fusion and purification system was used for high-level expression of soluble HBx fusion protein. The high-purity fusion protein was obtained via amylose resin chromatography and Q-Sepharose chromatography. The untagged HBx was efficiently and rapidly purified by Sephadex G-75 chromatography after cleavage by Factor Xa at 23 degrees C. The purity of active HBx protein was >99% with a very stable secondary structure dominated by alpha-helix, beta-sheet and random structure. The purified HBx protein can be analysed to determine its crystal structure and function and its capabilities as an effective immunogen.

Occult hepatitis B virus infection

The persistence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) genomes in HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) negative individuals is termed occult HBV infection. Occult HBV status is associated in some cases with mutant viruses undetectable by HBsAg assays, but more frequently it is due to a strong suppression of viral replication and gene expression. Occult HBV infection is an entity with world-wide diffusion, although the available data of prevalence in various categories of individuals are often contrasting because of the different sensitivity and specificity of the methods used for its detection in many studies. Occult HBV may impact in several different clinical contexts, including the transmission of the infection by blood transfusion or organ transplantation and its acute reactivation when an immunosuppressive status occurs. Moreover, much evidence suggests that it can favour the progression of liver fibrosis and above all the development of hepatocellular carcinoma.

Molecular functions and biological roles of hepatitis B virus x protein

Chronic infection of hepatitis B virus (HBV) is one of the major causes of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in the world. Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) has been long suspected to be involved in hepatocarcinogenesis, although its oncogenic role remains controversial. HBx is a multifunctional regulator that modulates transcription, signal transduction, cell cycle progress, protein degradation pathways, apoptosis, and genetic stability by directly or indirectly interacting with host factors. This review focuses on the biological roles of HBx in HBV replication and cellular transformation in terms of the molecular functions of HBx. Using the transient HBV replication assay, ectopically expressed HBx could stimulate HBV transcription and replication with the X-defective replicon to the level of those with the wild one. The transcription coactivation is mainly contributing to the stimulatory role of HBx on HBV replication although the other functions may affect HBV replication. Effect of HBx on cellular transformation remains controversial and was never addressed with human primary or immortal cells. Using the human immortalized primary cells, HBx was found to retain the ability to overcome active oncogene RAS-induced senescence that requires full-length HBx. At least two functions of HBx, the coactivation function and the ability to overcome oncogene-induced senescence, may be cooperatively involved in HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis.

Differential effects on apoptosis induction in hepatocyte lines by stable expression of hepatitis B virus X protein

AIM: Hepatitis B virus protein X (HBx) has been shown to be weakly oncogenic in vitro. The transforming activities of HBx have been linked with the inhibition of several functions of the tumor suppressor p53. We have studied whether HBx may have different effects on p53 depending on the cell type.

METHODS: We used the human hepatoma cell line HepG2 and the immortalized murine hepatocyte line AML12 and analyzed stably transfected clones which expressed physiological amounts of HBx. P53 was induced by UV irradiation.

RESULTS: The p53 induction by UV irradiation was unaffected by stable expression of HBx. However, the expression of the cyclin kinase inhibitor p21^waf/cip/sdi which gets activated by p53 was affected in the HBx transformed cell line AML12-HBx9, but not in HepG2. In AML-HBx9 cells, p21^waf/cip/sdi-protein expression and p21^waf/cip/sdi transcription were deregulated. Furthermore, the process of apoptosis was affected in opposite ways in the two cell lines investigated. While stable expression of HBx enhanced apoptosis induced by UV irradiation in HepG2-cells, apoptosis was decreased in HBx transformed AML12-HBx9. P53 repressed transcription from the HBV enhancer I, when expressed from expression vectors or after induction of endogenous p53 by UV irradiation. Repression by endogenous p53 was partially reversible by stably expressed HBx in both cell lines.

CONCLUSION: Stable expression of HBx leads to deregulation of apoptosis induced by UV irradiation depending on the cell line used. In an immortalized hepatocyte line HBx acted anti-apoptotic whereas expression in a carcinoma derived hepatocyte line HBx enhanced apoptosis.

Hepatitis B virus X protein stimulates viral genome replication via a DDB1-dependent pathway distinct from that leading to cell death

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein (HBx) is essential for virus infection and has been implicated in the development of liver cancer associated with chronic infection. HBx can interact with a number of cellular proteins, and in cell culture, it exhibits pleiotropic activities, among which is its ability to interfere with cell viability and stimulate HBV replication. Previous work has demonstrated that HBx affects cell viability by a mechanism that requires its binding to DDB1, a highly conserved protein implicated in DNA repair and cell cycle regulation. We now show that an interaction with DDB1 is also needed for HBx to stimulate HBV genome replication. Thus, HBx point mutants defective for DDB1 binding fail to complement the low level of replication of an HBx-deficient HBV genome when provided in trans, and one such mutant regains activity when directly fused to DDB1. Furthermore, DDB1 depletion by RNA interference specifically compromises replication of wild-type HBV, indicating that HBx produced from the viral genome also functions in a DDB1-dependent fashion. We also show that HBx in association with DDB1 acts in the nucleus and stimulates HBV replication mainly by enhancing viral mRNA levels, regardless of whether the protein is expressed from the HBV genome itself or supplied in trans. Interestingly, whereas HBx induces cell death in both HepG2 and Huh-7 hepatoma cell lines, it enhances HBV replication only in HepG2 cells, suggesting that the two activities involve distinct DDB1-dependent pathways.

Enhancer I predominance in hepatitis B virus gene expression

Previous studies of human hepatitis B virus (HBV) transcription revealed the requirement of two enhancer elements. Enhancer I (EnhI) is located upstream of the X promoter and is targeted by multiple activators, including basic leucine zipper proteins, and enhancer II (EnhII) is located upstream to the PreCore promoter and is targeted mainly by nuclear receptors (NRs). The mode of interplay between these enhancers and their unique contributions in regulating HBV transcription remained obscure. By using time course analysis we revealed that the HBV transcripts are categorized into early and late groups. Chang (CCL-13) cells are impaired in expression of the late transcripts. This could be corrected by overexpressing EnhII activators, such as hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha, the retinoid X receptor alpha, and the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha, suggesting that in Chang cells EnhI but not EnhII is active. Replacing the 5'-end EnhI sequence with a synthetic Gal4 response (UAS) DNA fragment ceased the production of the early transcripts. Under this condition NR overexpression poorly activated EnhII. However, activation of the UAS by Gal4-p53 restored both the expression of the early transcripts and the EnhII response to NRs. Thus, a functional EnhI is required for activation of EnhII. We found a major difference between Gal4-p53 and Gal4-VP16 behavior. Gal4-p53 activated the early transcripts, while Gal4-VP16 inhibited the early transcripts but activated the late transcripts. These findings indicate that the composition of the EnhI binding proteins may play a role in early to late switching. Our data provides strong evidence for the role of EnhI in regulating global and temporal HBV gene expression.

A long HBV transcript encoding pX is inefficiently exported from the nucleus

The longest hepatitis B virus transcript is a 3.9-kb mRNA whose function remained unclear. In this study, we wished to identify the translation products and physiological role of this viral transcript. This transcript initiates from the X promoter region ignoring the inefficient and noncanonical viral polyadenylation signal at the first round of transcription. However, an HBV mutant with canonical polyadenylation signal continues, though with lower efficiency, to program the synthesis of this long transcript, indicating that the deviated HBV polyadenylation signal is important but not essential to enable transcription of the 3.9-kb species. The 3.9-kb RNA contains two times the X open reading frame (ORF). The X ORF at the 5'-end is positioned upstream of the CORE gene. By generating an HBV DNA mutant in which the X and Core ORFs are fused, we demonstrated the production of a 40-kDa X-Core fusion protein that must be encoded by the 3.9-kb transcript. Mutagenesis studies revealed that the production of this protein depends on the 5' X ORF ATG, suggesting that the 3.9-kb RNA is active in translation of the X ORF. Based on these features, the 3.9-kb transcript was designated lxRNA for long X RNA. Unlike other HBV transcripts, lxRNA harbors two copies of PRE, the posttranscriptional regulatory element that controls the nuclear export of HBV mRNAs. Unexpectedly, despite the presence of PRE sequences, RNA fractionation analysis revealed that lxRNA barely accumulates in the cytoplasm, suggesting that nuclear export of lxRNA is poor. Collectively, our data suggest that two distinct HBV mRNA species encode pX and that the HBV transcripts are differentially regulated at the level of nuclear export.

Inhibition of hepatitis B virus expression and replication by RNA interference

RNA interference (RNAi) is the process of sequence-specific gene silencing, initiated by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) that is homologous in sequence to the target gene. Because it has been shown that RNAi can be accomplished in cultured mammalian cells by introducing small interfering RNAs (siRNAs), much effort has been invested in exploiting this phenomenon for experimental and therapeutic means. In this study, we present a series of experiments showing a significant reduction in hepatitis B virus (HBV) transcripts and proteins in cell culture, as well as in the viral replicative forms, induced by siRNA-producing vectors. The antiviral effect is sequence-specific and does not depend on active viral replication. In conclusion, our data suggest that RNAi may provide a powerful therapeutic tool, acting both on replication-competent and on replication-incompetent HBV.

p73β inhibits transcriptional activities of enhancer I and X promoter in hepatitis B virus more efficiently than p73α

AIM: p73, as a novel member of a family of p53-related transcription factors, shares redundant functions with p53, such as the abilities of inducing apoptosis and suppressing growth. It is well known that p53 can repress HBV expression and transcription efficiently. The aim of this paper is to investigate the transcriptional effect of p73α and p73β on hepatitis B virus (HBV) and to understand the correlation between HBV and p73.

METHODS: To construct an x-gene inactivated HBV plasmid which was cotransfected with p73α or p73β expression vectors into HepG2 cells. After transiently transfection, HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV e antigen (HBeAg) were detected by ELISA. Viral transcripts synthesized by HBV were evaluated by Northern blotting analysis. The activities of HBV regulatory elements, including enhancer I/X promoter (ENI/Xp) and enhancer II/core promoter (ENII/Cp) were monitored by luciferase assays.

RESULTS: Both p73α and p73β could repress HBsAg and HBeAg expression by downregulating the ENI/Xp and ENII/ Cp activities. But p73β exerted stronger inhibition on the activity of ENI/Xp than p73α, resulting in much lower level of viral transcripts and the antigens expression.

CONCLUSION: p73β as a novel member of p53 family can efficiently inhibit HBV transcription mainly through downregulating the activities of the HBV ENI/Xp regulatory elements.

Expression of hepatitis B virus X (HBx) gene is up-regulated by adriamycin at the post-transcriptional level

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein (HBx) is thought to be involved in the development of liver cancer and alteration of cellular HBx level may influence the pathological progression of HBV-induced liver diseases. We found that the cellular levels of HBx mRNA transcript and protein in cells were greatly enhanced by adriamycin, a topoisomerase II inhibitor. Up-regulation of HBx mRNA by adriamycin was also observed in HBx transgenic mice, which was accompanied with a significant increase of VEGF mRNA, the downstream target of HBx. When we investigated the underlying mechanism, we found that half-life of HBx mRNA in HBx-expressing Chang cells was about 3h, but was prolonged to >6h in the presence of adriamycin. Moreover, half-life of rapidly degrading HBx protein was determined as about 15min however, it remained almost constant until 60min in the presence of adriamycin. These results provide the first evidence that the cellular level of HBx gene can be increased at the post-transcriptional level.

HBXAP, a novel PHD-finger protein, possesses transcription repression activity

The PHD/LAP (plant homology domain/leukemia associated protein) finger motif is characteristically defined by a histidine and seven cysteines that are spatially arranged in a C4HC3 consensus sequence. This unique zinc finger, found primarily in a wide variety of chromatin-associated proteins, is considered to mediate protein-protein interactions. We have isolated a novel human PHD-finger protein, HBXAP (for hepatitis B virus x associated protein). HBXAP has three alternatively spliced isoforms. We also identified the Drosophila melanogaster HBXAP ortholog, gene CG8677. Based on alignment of four different proteins, we found a novel conserved domain in HBXAP that we designated the HBXAP conserved domain (XCD). We show that HBXAP represses transcription when recruited to DNA via the DNA binding of GAL4. Furthermore, the PHD finger alone suffices to repress transcription, thus attributing a functional role to this domain. The gene HBXAP is localized to the long arm of human chromosome 11 between q13.4 and q14.1. This region is amplified and rearranged in many tumors, suggesting a role for HBXAP in tumorigenesis similar to that of other PHD-containing proteins.

Hepatitis B virus pX interacts with HBXAP, a PHD finger protein to coactivate transcription

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) gene expression is mainly regulated at the transcription initiation level. The viral X protein (pX) is a transcription coactivator/mediator targeting TFIIB for the recruitment of RNA polymerase II. Here we report a novel pX nuclear target designated HBXAP (hepatitis B virus X-associated protein). HBXAP is a novel cellular nuclear protein containing a PHD (plant homology domain) finger, a domain shared by many proteins that play roles in chromatin remodeling, transcription coactivation, and oncogenesis. pX physically interacts with HBXAP in vitro and in vivo via the HBXAP region containing the PHD finger. At the functional level HBXAP increases HBV transcription in a pX-dependent manner suggesting a role for this interaction in the virus life cycle. Interestingly, HBXAP collaborates with pX in coactivating the transcriptional activator NF-kappaB. Coactivation of NF-kappaB was also observed in tumor necrosis factor alpha-treated cells suggesting that pX-HBXAP functional collaboration localized downstream to the NF-kappaB nuclear import. Collectively our data suggest that pX recruits and potentiates a novel putative transcription coactivator to regulate NF-kappaB. The implication of pX-HBXAP interaction in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma is discussed.

Overproduced p73alpha activates a minimal promoter through a mechanism independent of its transcriptional activity

p73, the gene for a protein related to the tumor suppressor p53, encodes several variants which bear distinct carboxy-terminal structures as a result of alternative splicing. We and others showed that these splicing variants have different transcriptional effects on promoters with a p53-binding consensus sequence (p53BCS). Here we show that when transiently overexpressed, p73alpha but not p73beta activated several minimal promoters without the p53BCS, while p73gamma and p73epsilon activated them to a much lesser extent than p73alpha, and p53 suppressed the promoters without p53BCS as reported previously. Moreover, the results of RNase protection and RNA transfection assays suggested that this activation occurred at the transcriptional level. Deletion analysis of p73alpha revealed that the transactivation domain of p73 was not involved in this activity and the C-terminal region of p73alpha which is a specific structure of this variant was essential, suggesting that this phenomenon occurs independent of the transactivation activity of p73alpha and that the C-terminal extension of p73alpha may affect the basal level of transcription.

HBV integrants of hepatocellular carcinoma cell lines contain an active enhancer

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk factor worldwide for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Integrated HBV DNA fragments, often highly rearranged, are frequently detected in HCC. In woodchuck, the viral enhancer plays a central role in hepatocarcinogenesis, but in humans the mechanism of HBV oncogenesis has not been established. In this study we investigated the status of the viral enhancer in two human HCC cell lines, Hep3B and PLC/PRF/5 each containing one or more integrated HBV DNA fragments. Active enhancer was defined by virtue of its protein occupancy as determined by genomic in vivo DMS footprinting. In PLC/PRF/5 cells, the HBV DNA was integrated in a cellular gene at chromosome 11q13, at a locus reported to be amplified in many tumors. We show here that in both cell lines, the integrated HBV DNA fragments contain an active enhancer-I. In particular, the occupation of the two previously defined basic enhancer elements, E and EP, was prominent. While in both cell lines the same protein binds to the EP elements, the E element, however, is occupied in a cell-line specific manner. In PLC/PRF/5 but not Hep3B, the prominent binding of an undefined protein was detected. Our data suggest that this protein is likely to be the fetoprotein transcription factor (FTF). The finding that enhancer sequences are conserved and functional in different cell lines suggests a selection pressure for their long-term maintenance. We therefore propose that the HBV enhancer-I might play a role in hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

Expression of hepatitis B virus X protein is closely correlated with the high periportal inflammatory activity of liver diseases

Hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein is a multifunctional protein that exerts dual activity on cell proliferation and death. Although HBx is thought to be a major determinant that leads to hepatocellular carcinoma, its pathophysiological role in humans remains to be established. Attempts have been made to evaluate the role of HBx in liver specimens derived from patients with chronic B viral hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Among 25 paired liver specimens of hepatocellular carcinoma and corresponding nontumour liver tissues, HBx mRNA was hardly detected and was significantly lower than other HBV transcripts. An immunohistochemical study demonstrated that expression of HBx protein was also lower than other HBV gene products. Interestingly, however, expression of HBx protein changed with the progression of chronic hepatitis. HBx was expressed in 5.0% of patients with chronic hepatitis without cirrhosis but increased to 44.8% in chronic hepatitis with cirrhosis. In contrast, only one (3.7%) of 27 hepatocellular carcinomas showed HBx positivity whereas 29.6% of surrounding nontumour tissues was still HBx-positive. These results suggest that HBx may play a major role at the promotion stage of carcinogenesis. Noticeably, HBx-positive cells were preferentially localized in the periportal region of chronic hepatitis or periphery of cirrhotic nodules where high necroinflammatory activity was accompanied. We found a positive correlation between HBx expression and periportal inflammatory activity (P < 0.001). Thus, HBx may potentiate cell destruction and regeneration of liver that provide an opportunity for the accumulation of genetic mutations, which contribute to multistep hepatocarcinogenesis.

Hepatitis B virus X mutants derived from human hepatocellular carcinoma retain the ability to abrogate p53-induced apoptosis

Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and the integration of its X gene (HBx) are closely associated with the development of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The integrated HBx frequently is truncated or contains point mutations. Previous studies indicated that these HBx mutants have a diminished co-transactivational activity. We have compared the effects of wild-type (wt) HBx and its naturally occurring mutants derived from human HCCs on transcriptional co-transactivation, apoptosis and interactive effects with p53. We demonstrated that overexpression of mutant, but not wt HBx, is defective in transcriptional co-transactivation of the NF-kappaB-driven luciferase reporter. By using a microinjection technique, the HBx mutants were shown to have an attenuated pro-apoptotic activity. This deficiency may be attributed to multiple mutations in the co-transactivation domain of HBx, that leads to decreased stability of the translated product. However, wt or mutant HBx bind to p53 in vitro and retain their ability to block p53-mediated apoptosis in vivo, which has been implicated as its major tumor suppressor function. The abrogation of p53-mediated apoptosis by integrated HBx mutants may provide a selective clonal advantage for preneoplastic or neoplastic hepatocytes and contribute to hepatocellular carcinogenesis.

HBV X protein targets HIV Tat-binding protein 1

The HBV X protein (HBx) is implicated in infection and development of hepatocellular carcinoma. HBx has a pleiotropic effect on cells, suggesting multiple targets in the virus-host cell interaction. We employed the cytoplasmic-based two-hybrid screen and identified the HIV Tat-binding protein 1 (Tbp1) as a novel HBx interacting protein. Tbp1 interacts in vivo with HBx both in yeast and in animal cells. This interaction maps to the functionally important ATP-binding motif of Tbp1. Furthermore, HBx and Tbp1 interaction is functionally significant and regulates HBV transcription. Tbp1 homologues, such as Sug1, are known members of the proteasome 19S regulatory cap particle and have also been implicated in transcription coactivation. Remarkably, Tbp1 and Sug1 interact with multiple viral effector proteins including HIV Tat, SV40 large T antigen, and adenovirus E1A, establishing these proteins as important targets of the viral oncogenes.

Occult hepatitis B virus infection

Many studies have shown that hepatitis B virus infection may also occur in hepatitis B surface antigen-negative patients. This occult infection has been identified both in patients with cryptogenic liver disease and in patients with hepatitis C virus-related chronic hepatitis, and much evidence suggests that it may be a risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma development. However several aspects of this occult infection remain unclear such as its prevalence and the factor(s) involved in the lack of circulating hepatitis B surface antigen. Moreover, it is uncertain whether the occult hepatitis B virus infection may contribute to chronic liver damage, considering that it is usually associated with a suppressed viral replication. Evidence and hypotheses concerning this fascinating field of bio-medical research are reviewed.

Chemotherapeutic drug, adriamycin, restores the function of p53 protein in hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein-expressing liver cells

Hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein implicated in the development of liver cancer may inhibit the function of p53 tumor suppressor protein through cytoplasmic retention of p53 protein. Here, we attempt to investigate whether the functional inhibition of p53 protein by HBx protein is reversible. First, we provide the evidence for the association of endogenous p53 protein with HBx by co-immunoprecipitation in stable Chang cells that express HBx protein in an inducible manner (ChangX-34). By immunofluorescence microscopy, the major location of p53 protein of ChangX-34 cells was confirmed at the nuclear periphery as well as in the cytoplasm where HBx protein is mainly expressed. Surprisingly, anticancer drug, adriamycin induces the nuclear translocation of p53 protein sequestered in the cytoplasm. This change is accompanied by the restoration of p53 activity, which results in increased transcriptional activity at the p53-responsive DNA elements as well as increase of p21WAF1 mRNA expression. Further, we observed the induction of cell death and G1 arrest in these cells upon adriamycin treatment regardless of HBx expression. Together, we demonstrate that functional inhibition of p53 protein through its cytoplasmic retention by HBx protein is reversible. These results may be extended into other tumors of which p53 activity is modulated by viral oncoproteins.