Journal of General Virology, Vol 79, 375-380, Copyright © 1998 by Society for General Microbiology

ARTICLES

Wild-type levels of pregenomic RNA and replication but reduced pre-C RNA and e-antigen synthesis of hepatitis B virus with C(1653) --> T, A(1762) --> T and G(1764) --> A mutations in the core promoter

S Gunther, N Piwon and H Will
Heinrich-Pette-Institut fur Experimentelle Virologie und Immunologie an der Universitat Hamburg, Federal Republic of Germany. will@hpi.uni- hamburg.de

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) isolates with A-1762 to T and G-1764 to A mutations in the core promoter have been associated with active hepatitis, severe liver disease following liver transplantation, hepatocellular carcinoma and acute fulminant courses--in the latter case combined with a C-1653 to T mutation. In this study, a mutant core promoter region containing the T-1653, T-1762 and A-1764 mutations was placed into the context of a wild-type HBV genome and analysed by transfection. The mutations reduced the level of pre-C mRNA (by 55%) and e-antigen secretion. In contrast, no significant effects on the levels of pregenome/C and pre-S/S mRNAs, intracellular core, polymerase, and pre-S /S2 proteins and secreted S-antigen were observed. The amount of progeny virus DNA in the cells and in the culture medium was increased marginally, if at all.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				S. Jammeh, F. Tavner, R. Watson, H. C. Thomas, and P. Karayiannis Effect of basal core promoter and pre-core mutations on hepatitis B virus replication J. Gen. Virol., April 1, 2008; 89(4): 901 - 909. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				N. Shinkai, Y. Tanaka, K. Ito, M. Mukaide, I. Hasegawa, Y. Asahina, N. Izumi, H. Yatsuhashi, E. Orito, T. Joh, et al. Influence of Hepatitis B Virus X and Core Promoter Mutations on Hepatocellular Carcinoma among Patients Infected with Subgenotype C2 J. Clin. Microbiol., October 1, 2007; 45(10): 3191 - 3197. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C.-H. Chen, C.-M. Lee, S.-N. Lu, C.-S. Changchien, H.-L. Eng, C.-M. Huang, J.-H. Wang, C.-H. Hung, and T.-H. Hu Clinical Significance of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) Genotypes and Precore and Core Promoter Mutations Affecting HBV e Antigen Expression in Taiwan J. Clin. Microbiol., December 1, 2005; 43(12): 6000 - 6006. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				H. Sendi, M. Mehrab-Mohseni, M. R. Zali, H. Norder, and L. O. Magnius T1764G1766 core promoter double mutants are restricted to Hepatitis B virus strains with an A1757 and are common in genotype D J. Gen. Virol., September 1, 2005; 86(9): 2451 - 2458. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				P. H. C. Franca, J. E. Gonzalez, M. S. Munne, L. H. Brandao, V. S. Gouvea, E. Sablon, and B. O. M. Vanderborght Strong Association between Genotype F and Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) e Antigen-Negative Variants among HBV-Infected Argentinean Blood Donors J. Clin. Microbiol., November 1, 2004; 42(11): 5015 - 5021. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				Y. Zheng, J. Li, and J.-h. Ou Regulation of Hepatitis B Virus Core Promoter by Transcription Factors HNF1 and HNF4 and the Viral X Protein J. Virol., July 1, 2004; 78(13): 6908 - 6914. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				J. Li, Z. Xu, Y. Zheng, D. L. Johnson, and J.-h. Ou Regulation of Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 1 Activity by Wild-Type and Mutant Hepatitis B Virus X Proteins J. Virol., May 13, 2002; 76(12): 5875 - 5881. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				X. Yu and J. E. Mertz Critical Roles of Nuclear Receptor Response Elements in Replication of Hepatitis B Virus J. Virol., December 1, 2001; 75(23): 11354 - 11364. [Abstract] [Full Text]

				H. Tang, A. K. Raney, and A. McLachlan Replication of the Wild Type and a Natural Hepatitis B Virus Nucleocapsid Promoter Variant Is Differentially Regulated by Nuclear Hormone Receptors in Cell Culture J. Virol., October 1, 2001; 75(19): 8937 - 8948. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

				C. Hannoun, P. Horal, and M. Lindh Long-term mutation rates in the hepatitis B virus genome J. Gen. Virol., January 1, 2000; 81(1): 75 - 83. [Abstract] [Full Text]