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Properties of Hepatitis B e Antigen Synthesized by Rat Cells Transfected with Circular Viral DNA

Manuel A. Serrano

Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, The Mount Sinai School of Medicine of the City University of New York, New York, N.Y. 10029, U.S.A.

Transfection of Buffalo rat liver cells with closed circular hepatitis B virus DNA resulted in the synthesis of both hepatitis B e and surface antigens. A 14000 mol. wt. peptide bearing hepatitis B e antigenic determinants was isolated from cell culture fluids. Native hepatitis B e antigen was present in multimeric forms in the cell culture fluids and was associated with protein phosphokinase activity. The multimeric forms of hepatitis B e antigen may serve both structural and enzymic functions for the hepatitis B virion with its small genome.

Keywords: HBeAg, DNA transfection, phosphokinase, multimers

Present address: Department of Internal Medicine, University Clinic, University of Navarra, Pamplona, Spain.

Received 5 January 1984; accepted 27 April 1984.