Inhibition of hepatitis B virus replication by the internal fragment of hepatitis B core protein

The nucleocapsids formation is a pivotal step of hepatitis B virus (HBV) life cycle. The inhibition of HBV nucleocapsids assembly is a promising strategy for the anti-HBV treatment. HBc78–117 is an internal fragment of hepatitis B core protein (HBc). In this study, we used lentiviral vector to deliver HBc78–117 cDNA sequence into HepG2.2.15 cells and examined the effect of HBc78–117 on HBV replication. We confirmed by immunoprecipitation analysis that HBc78–117 interacted with full-length HBc in HepG2.2.15 cells. The nucleocapsids and HBV DNA replication intermediates were markedly reduced in the cells expressing HBc78–117, although HBV pregenome RNA was not affected. The level of HBV DNA was also significantly reduced in culture supernatant. These suggest that HBc78–117 can inhibit HBV DNA replication by interfering with nucleocapsids assembly.