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Shivangi, Mishra MK, Gupta S, Razdan K, Sudan S, Sehgal S. Clinical diagnosis of viral hepatitis: Current status and future strategies. Diagn Microbiol Infect Dis 2024; 108:116151. [PMID: 38184983 DOI: 10.1016/j.diagmicrobio.2023.116151] [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: 02/01/2023] [Revised: 08/15/2023] [Accepted: 11/24/2023] [Indexed: 01/09/2024]
Abstract
Viral hepatitis (VH) is a significant public health issue with tremendous potential to aggravate into chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, and hepatocellular carcinoma. Recent decade has witnessed remarkable uprising in the drug development and effective treatment of VH. An upsurge is seen in identification of antiviral therapies with low rates of viral resistance, the improvement of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) vaccination and the development of direct-acting antivirals for Hepatitis C Virus (HCV). But unfortunately, the "2030 worldwide eradication" objective of World Health Organization (WHO) is still unmet. It can be largely attributed to the deficit faced by the healthcare system concerning screening and diagnosis. A timely, accurate and comprehensive screening; encompassing maximum population coverage is essential to combat this disease. However, advancements in VH diagnostics remain inadequate and with a marginal use in routine practice. This paper deliberates upon the lacunae in traditional and prevailing diagnostic methodology of viral hepatitis, especially their inadequacy in meeting the unique situations prevailing low- and middle-income countries (LMIC).
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Affiliation(s)
- Shivangi
- Centre for Molecular Biology, Central University of Jammu, Jammu (J&K), India
| | - Manish Kumar Mishra
- Centre for Molecular Biology, Central University of Jammu, Jammu (J&K), India
| | | | - Konika Razdan
- Government Medical College, Bakshi Nagar, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 180001, India
| | - Shashi Sudan
- Government Medical College, Bakshi Nagar, Jammu, Jammu and Kashmir 180001, India
| | - Shelly Sehgal
- Centre for Molecular Biology, Central University of Jammu, Jammu (J&K), India.
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Hong X, Mendenhall MA, Hu J. Detection of Hepatitis B Virus Covalently Closed Circular DNA and Intermediates in Its Formation. Methods Mol Biol 2024; 2837:99-111. [PMID: 39044078 DOI: 10.1007/978-1-0716-4027-2_9] [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] [Indexed: 07/25/2024]
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a global public health issue, and approximately 294 million individuals worldwide are chronically infected with HBV. Approved antivirals rarely cure chronic HBV infection due to their inability to eliminate the HBV covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), the viral episome, in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes. The persistence of cccDNA underlies the chronic nature of HBV infection and the frequent relapse after the cessation of antiviral treatment. However, drug development targeting cccDNA formation and maintenance is hindered by the lack of sufficient biological knowledge on cccDNA, and of its reliable detection due to its low abundance and the presence of high levels of HBV DNA species similar to cccDNA. Here, we describe a Southern blot method for reliably detecting the HBV cccDNA even in the presence of high levels of plasmid DNA and other HBV DNA species, based on the efficient removal of plasmid DNA and all DNA species with free 3' ends. This approach also allows the detection of certain potential intermediates during cccDNA formation.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xupeng Hong
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Megan A Mendenhall
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA
| | - Jianming Hu
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, PA, USA.
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Yang L, Zhou D, Martin K, Wu J, Chen M, Lu M, Yang D, Protzer U, Roggendorf M, Song J. Aborted infection of human sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (hNTCP) expressing woodchuck hepatocytes with hepatitis B virus (HBV). Virus Genes 2023; 59:823-830. [PMID: 37728707 DOI: 10.1007/s11262-023-02031-w] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/08/2023] [Accepted: 09/05/2023] [Indexed: 09/21/2023]
Abstract
Due to the limited host range of HBV, research progress has been hindered by the absence of a suitable animal model. The natural history of woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) infection in woodchuck closely mirrors that of HBV infection in human, making this species a promising candidate for establishing both in vivo and in vitro HBV infection models. Therefore, this animal may be a valuable species to evaluate HBV vaccines and anti-HBV drugs. A significant milestone in HBV and hepatitis D virus (HDV) infection is the discovery of sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) as the functional receptor. In an effort to enhance susceptibility to HBV infection, we introduced hNTCP into the woodchuck hepatocytes by multiple approaches including transduction of vLentivirus-hNTCP in woodchuck hepatocytes, transfection of p-lentivirus-hNTCP-eGFP plasmids into these cells, as well as transduction of vAdenovirus-hNTCP-eGFP. Encouragingly, our findings demonstrated the successful introduction of hNTCP into woodchuck hepatocytes. However, it was observed that these hNTCP-expressing hepatocytes were only susceptible to HDV infection but not HBV. This suggests the presence of additional crucial factors mediating early-stage HBV infection that are subject to stringent species-specific restrictions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Lu Yang
- Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People's Republic of China
| | - Di Zhou
- Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People's Republic of China
| | - Kächele Martin
- Institute of Virology, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | - Jun Wu
- Department of Infectious Disease, Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China
| | - Mingfa Chen
- Department of Infectious Diseases, Shenzhen Luohu People's Hospital, The Third Affiliated Hospital, Shenzhen University, Shenzhen, People's Republic of China
| | - Mengji Lu
- Institute of Virology, University Hospital of Essen, University Duisburg-Essen, Essen, Germany
| | - Dongliang Yang
- Department of Infectious Disease, Union Hospital of Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, People's Republic of China
| | - Ulrike Protzer
- Institute of Virology, Technische Universität München, Munich, Germany
| | | | - Jingjiao Song
- Experimental Medicine Center, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan, 430030, People's Republic of China.
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Nassal M. How many steps to a feasible mouse model of hepatitis B virus infection? Hepatology 2023; 77:1090-1094. [PMID: 35871466 DOI: 10.1002/hep.32684] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Submit a Manuscript] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/20/2022] [Accepted: 07/20/2022] [Indexed: 12/08/2022]
Affiliation(s)
- Michael Nassal
- Department of Internal Medicine 2/Molecular Biology , University Hospital Freiburg , Freiburg , Germany
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Characterization of Intracellular Precore-Derived Proteins and Their Functions in Hepatitis B Virus-Infected Human Hepatocytes. mBio 2023; 14:e0350122. [PMID: 36715515 PMCID: PMC9973328 DOI: 10.1128/mbio.03501-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/31/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) precore protein is not essential for viral replication but is thought to facilitate chronic infection. In addition to the secreted precore products, including the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) and PreC protein, intracellular precore-derived proteins in HBV-infected human hepatocytes remain poorly characterized, and their roles, if any, remain largely unknown. Here, we detected multiple precore derivatives, including the nonprocessed precursor p25 and the processing intermediate p22, in HBV-infected human hepatocytes as well as human hepatoma cells overexpressing the HBV precore protein. Both p25 and p22 showed phosphorylated and unphosphorylated forms, which were located in different intracellular compartments. Interestingly, precore expression was associated with decreases in intracellular HBV core protein (HBc) and secreted DNA-containing virions but was also associated with an increase in secreted empty virions. The decrease in HBc by precore could be attributed to cytosolic p22, which caused HBc degradation, at least in part by the proteasome, and consequently decreased HBV pregenomic RNA packaging and DNA synthesis. In addition, cytosolic p22 formed chimeric capsids with HBc in the cell, which were further secreted in virions. In contrast, the PreC antigen, like HBeAg, was secreted via the endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi secretory pathway and was thus unable to form capsids in the cell or be secreted in virions. Furthermore, p25, as well as p22, were secreted in virions from HBV-infected human hepatocytes and were detected in the sera of HBV-infected chimpanzees. In summary, we have detected multiple intracellular precore-derived proteins in HBV-infected human hepatocytes and revealed novel precore functions in the viral life cycle. IMPORTANCE Chronic hepatitis B remains a worldwide public health issue. The hepatitis B virus (HBV) precore protein is not essential for HBV replication but may facilitate viral persistence. In this study, we have detected multiple precore protein species in HBV-infected human hepatocytes and studied their functions in the HBV life cycle. We found that the HBV precore proteins decreased intracellular HBV core protein and reduced secretion of complete virions but enhanced secretion of empty virions. Interestingly, the cytosolic precore protein species formed chimeric capsids with the core protein and were secreted in virions. Our results shed new light on the functions of intracellular precore protein species in the HBV life cycle and have implications for the roles of precore proteins in HBV persistence and pathogenesis.
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Wang L, Peng HY, Pham A, Villazana E, Ballard DJ, Das JK, Kumar A, Xiong X, Song J. T Cell Response to SARS-CoV-2 Coinfection and Comorbidities. Pathogens 2023; 12:321. [PMID: 36839596 PMCID: PMC9965203 DOI: 10.3390/pathogens12020321] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2022] [Revised: 02/03/2023] [Accepted: 02/13/2023] [Indexed: 02/17/2023] Open
Abstract
For the past three years, COVID-19 has become an increasing global health issue. Adaptive immune cells, especially T cells, have been extensively investigated in regard to SARS-CoV-2 infection. However, human health and T cell responses are also impacted by many other pathogens and chronic diseases. We have summarized T cell performance during SARS-CoV-2 coinfection with other viruses, bacteria, and parasites. Furthermore, we distinguished if those altered T cell statuses under coinfection would affect their clinical outcomes, such as symptom severity and hospitalization demand. T cell alteration in diabetes, asthma, and hypertension patients with SARS-CoV-2 infection was also investigated in our study. We have summarized whether changes in T cell response influence the clinical outcome during comorbidities.
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Affiliation(s)
- Liqing Wang
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | - Hao-Yun Peng
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
- Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843, USA
| | - Aspen Pham
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
| | - Eber Villazana
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
| | - Darby J. Ballard
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
| | - Jugal Kishore Das
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
| | - Anil Kumar
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
| | - Xiaofang Xiong
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
| | - Jianxun Song
- Department of Microbial Pathogenesis and Immunology, Texas A&M University Health Science Center, Bryan, TX 77807, USA
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Conserved Lysine Residues of Hepatitis B Virus Core Protein Are Not Required for Covalently Closed Circular DNA Formation. J Virol 2022; 96:e0071822. [PMID: 35867543 PMCID: PMC9364803 DOI: 10.1128/jvi.00718-22] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 01/21/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein (HBc), the building block of the viral capsid, plays a critical role throughout the HBV life cycle. There are two highly conserved lysine residues, namely, K7 and K96, on HBc, which have been proposed to function at various stages of viral replication, potentially through lysine-specific posttranslational modifications (PTMs). Here, we substituted K7 and K96 with alanine or arginine, which would also block potential PTMs on these two lysine residues, and tested the effects of these substitutions on HBV replication and infection. We found that the two lysine residues were dispensable for all intracellular steps of HBV replication. In particular, all mutants were competent to form the covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) via the intracellular amplification pathway, indicating that K7 and K96, or any PTMs of these residues, were not essential for nucleocapsid uncoating, a prerequisite for cccDNA formation. Furthermore, we found that K7A and K7R mutations did not affect de novo cccDNA formation and RNA transcription during infection, indicating that K7 or any PTMs of this residue were dispensable for HBV infection. In addition, we demonstrated that the HBc K7 coding sequence (AAA), as part of the HBV polyadenylation signal UAUAAA, was indispensable for viral RNA production, implicating this cis requirement at the RNA level, instead of any function of HBc-K7, likely constrains the identity of the 7th residue of HBc. In conclusion, our results provided novel insights regarding the roles of lysine residues on HBc, and their coding sequences, in the HBV life cycle. IMPORTANCE Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a public health burden that affects 296 million individuals worldwide. HBV core protein (HBc) is involved in almost all steps in the HBV life cycle. There are two conserved lysine residues on HBc. Here, we found that neither of them is essential for HBV intracellular replication, including the formation of covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), the molecular basis for establishing and sustaining the HBV infection. However, K96 is critical for virion morphogenesis, while the K7 coding sequence, but not HBc-K7 itself, is indispensable, as part of the RNA polyadenylation signal, for HBV RNA production from cccDNA. Our results provide novel insights regarding the role of the conserved lysine residues on HBc, and their coding sequences, in viral replication, and should facilitate the development of antiviral drugs against the HBV capsid protein.
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Hong X, Menne S, Hu J. Constrained evolution of overlapping genes in viral host adaptation: Acquisition of glycosylation motifs in hepadnaviral precore/core genes. PLoS Pathog 2022; 18:e1010739. [PMID: 35901192 PMCID: PMC9362955 DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1010739] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 05/07/2022] [Revised: 08/09/2022] [Accepted: 07/13/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepadnaviruses use extensively overlapping genes to expand their coding capacity, especially the precore/core genes encode the precore and core proteins with mostly identical sequences but distinct functions. The precore protein of the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) is N-glycosylated, in contrast to the precore of the human hepatitis B virus (HBV) that lacks N-glycosylation. To explore the roles of the N-linked glycosylation sites in precore and core functions, we substituted T77 and T92 in the WHV precore/core N-glycosylation motifs (75NIT77 and 90NDT92) with the corresponding HBV residues (E77 and N92) to eliminate the sequons. Conversely, these N-glycosylation sequons were introduced into the HBV precore/core gene by E77T and N92T substitutions. We found that N-glycosylation increased the levels of secreted precore gene products from both HBV and WHV. However, the HBV core (HBc) protein carrying the E77T substitution was defective in supporting virion secretion, and during infection, the HBc E77T and N92T substitutions impaired the formation of the covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), the critical viral DNA molecule responsible for establishing and maintaining infection. In cross-species complementation assays, both HBc and WHV core (WHc) proteins supported all steps of intracellular replication of the heterologous virus while WHc, with or without the N-glycosylation sequons, failed to interact with HBV envelope proteins for virion secretion. Interestingly, WHc supported more efficiently intracellular cccDNA amplification than HBc in the context of either HBV or WHV. These findings reveal novel determinants of precore secretion and core functions and illustrate strong constraints during viral host adaptation resulting from their compact genome and extensive use of overlapping genes. Hepadnaviruses infect a wide range of hosts. The human hepatitis B virus (HBV) and woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) are two closely related hepadnaviruses. In contrast to the WHV precore protein, which is N-glycosylated, the HBV precore protein lacks N-glycosylation. As precore and core proteins expressed from the overlapping precore/core genes share most of their sequences but have distinct functions, we investigated the roles of the N-linked glycosylation sequons in HBV and WHV precore/core genes. Our results revealed an important role of the N-linked glycosylation sequons in enhancing precore secretion levels and regulating core protein functions in virion secretion and infection. Furthermore, cross-species complementation assays using HBV and WHV core proteins and HBV or WHV genomes defective in core protein expression indicated that both HBV and WHV core proteins could support intracellular viral replication but not virion secretion of the heterologous virus. These results provide novel insights into the evolution of overlapping genes during host adaptation of hepadnaviruses.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xupeng Hong
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States of America
| | - Stephan Menne
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington, District of Columbia, United States of America
| | - Jianming Hu
- Department of Microbiology and Immunology, The Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey, Pennsylvania, United States of America
- * E-mail:
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