Chinese Journal of Hepatology 2009;17(8):585-588

Insertion of TC motif into hepatitis B virus core protein c/e1 site does not affect the expression of S and e antigen.

Yuan-yuan LIN 1 ; Xiao-ming CHENG ; Yu-hu SONG ; Ying CHANG ; Jin-jian YAO ; Ju-sheng LIN

Affiliations

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Country

China

Language

Chinese

MeSH

Abstract

OBJECTIVETo investigate whether insertion of TC motif into hepatitis B virus (HBV) core protein c/e1 site affects the expression of S and e antigen.

METHODSDifferent oligonucleotides encoding TC motif were inserted into the c/e1 site of the core gene of a 1.3 copy wild-type HBV genome vector. HepG2 cells were divided into several groups of cells to transiently transfect with the wild-type and mutant HBV vectors, respectively. In each group, the expression level of core protein inside cells was detected by western blotting, and the levels of S and e antigen in culture medium were analyzed by ELISA assay.

RESULTSWestern blotting showed that these TC-tagged core proteins were expressed at similar level of wild-type one. ELISA assay indicated that the level of S and e antigen in culture medium of different groups were not significantly different.

CONCLUSIONInsertion of TC motif into HBV core protein c/e1 site does not interference with the expression of viral protein encoded by HBV genome.