van de Klundert MAA, van Hemert FJ, Zaaijer HL, Kootstra NA. The hepatitis B virus x protein inhibits thymine DNA glycosylase initiated base excision repair.
PLoS One 2012;
7:e48940. [PMID:
23145031 PMCID:
PMC3493593 DOI:
10.1371/journal.pone.0048940]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 19] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.6] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/13/2012] [Accepted: 10/01/2012] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
The hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome encodes the X protein (HBx), a ubiquitous transactivator that is required for HBV replication. Expression of the HBx protein has been associated with the development of HBV infection-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Previously, we generated a 3D structure of HBx by combined homology and ab initio in silico modelling. This structure showed a striking similarity to the human thymine DNA glycosylase (TDG), a key enzyme in the base excision repair (BER) pathway. To further explore this finding, we investigated whether both proteins interfere with or complement each other’s functions. Here we show that TDG does not affect HBV replication, but that HBx strongly inhibits TDG-initiated base excision repair (BER), a major DNA repair pathway. Inhibition of the BER pathway may contribute substantially to the oncogenic effect of HBV infection.
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