Article ID | Journal | Published Year | Pages | File Type |
---|---|---|---|---|
3424434 | Virology | 2012 | 8 Pages |
HBV has two enhancer (En) regions each of which promotes its own transcription. En II regulates production of pregenomic RNA, a key product of HBV replication, more strongly than En I. Although IFN-α has been found to suppress En I activity, its effect on En II activity has not been examined. Here we used luciferase assay to demonstrate that IFN-α suppresses En II activity. Analysis with several deletion/mutation constructs identified two major segments, nt 1703–1727 and nt 1746–1770, within the En II sequence as being responsible for the suppressive effects of IFN-α. Pre-treatment with protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors blocked this effect regardless of the expression levels of phospho-STAT1 and Mx upon IFN-α stimulation. These results indicate that IFN-α suppresses En II activity via the PKC pathway, which may be an alternative suppressive pathway for HBV replication. (136 words).
► Interferon (IFN)-α suppressed Hepatitis B virus enhancer (En) II activity. ► The suppression of IFN-α on En II activity was blocked by PKC inhibitors although ISG was expressed. ► These data suggest an alternative suppressive pathway for HBV replication.