title: Identification of a cellular protein specifically interacting with the precursor of the hepatitis B e antigen.
abstract: In hepatitis B virus (HBV) the precore gene encodes a protein from which derives P22, the precursor of the mature secreted hepatitis B virus e antigen (HBeAg). Circumstantial evidences suggest that HBeAg and/or its precursor P22 are important for establishing persistent infection. Although P22 is essentially present in the secretory pathway, a substantial fraction has been found in the cytosol. In order to get new insights into the biological function of P22, we looked for cellular proteins which could strongly associate with this protein. Using immunoprecipitation studies on human cell extracts, we found that a non-secreted cellular protein of about 32 kDa (P32) bound with a high specificity to P22. P32 associated neither with HBeAg nor with the viral core protein P21 which exhibits the same amino acids sequence as P22 but is N-terminally shorter by 10 residues. We also demonstrated that this interaction depended on the presence of the P22 C-terminal domain. Our data argues for a potential biological function of P22.
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Génétique des Virus, UPR 9053-CNRS, Avenue de la Terrasse, 91198 Gif sur Yvette, France.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Salhi
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Messageot
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Carlier
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Jean-Jean
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rossignol
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000914:Antibodies, Viral / Q000276:immunology; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D006801:Humans; D015531:Radioimmunoprecipitation Assay; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D014162:Transfection; D014758:Viral Core Proteins / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000276:immunology* / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D000914:Antibodies, Viral; D006513:Hepatitis B e Antigens; D018936:Hepatitis C Antigens; D014758:Viral Core Proteins; D014764:Viral Proteins; C499352:core protein p22, Hepatitis C virus; C069130:nucleocapsid protein, Hepatitis C virus