1. Hypoxia-inducible factor affects hepatitis B virus transcripts and genome levels as well as the expression and subcellular location of the hepatitis B virus core protein.
- Author
-
Duchemin NJ, Loonawat R, Yeakle K, Rosenkranz A, and Bouchard MJ
- Subjects
- Humans, Hepatitis B virus genetics, Viral Core Proteins genetics, Hypoxia, Virus Replication physiology, Carcinoma, Hepatocellular, Liver Neoplasms pathology, Hepatitis B, Chronic, Hepatitis B
- Abstract
Globally, a chronic-hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the leading cause of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The transcription factor hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF1) is often elevated in HCC, including HBV-associated HCC. Previous studies have suggested that the expression of the HIF1 subunit, HIF1α, is elevated in HBV-infected hepatocytes; however, whether HIF1 activity affects the HBV lifecycle has not been fully explored. We used a liver-derived cell line and ex vivo cultured primary hepatocytes as models to determine how HIF1 affects the HBV lifecycle. We observed that HIF1 elevates HBV RNA transcript levels, core protein levels, core protein localization to the cytoplasm, and HBV genome replication. Attenuating the transcription activity of HIF1 blocked HIF1-mediated effects on the HBV lifecycle. Our studies show that HIF1 regulates various stages of the HBV lifecycle in hepatocytes and could be a therapeutic target for blocking HBV replication and the development of HBV-associated diseases., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)
- Published
- 2023
- Full Text
- View/download PDF