title: Hepatitis B virus pX interacts with HBXAP, a PHD finger protein to coactivate transcription.
abstract: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) gene expression is mainly regulated at the transcription initiation level. The viral X protein (pX) is a transcription coactivator/mediator targeting TFIIB for the recruitment of RNA polymerase II. Here we report a novel pX nuclear target designated HBXAP (hepatitis B virus X-associated protein). HBXAP is a novel cellular nuclear protein containing a PHD (plant homology domain) finger, a domain shared by many proteins that play roles in chromatin remodeling, transcription coactivation, and oncogenesis. pX physically interacts with HBXAP in vitro and in vivo via the HBXAP region containing the PHD finger. At the functional level HBXAP increases HBV transcription in a pX-dependent manner suggesting a role for this interaction in the virus life cycle. Interestingly, HBXAP collaborates with pX in coactivating the transcriptional activator NF-kappaB. Coactivation of NF-kappaB was also observed in tumor necrosis factor alpha-treated cells suggesting that pX-HBXAP functional collaboration localized downstream to the NF-kappaB nuclear import. Collectively our data suggest that pX recruits and potentiates a novel putative transcription coactivator to regulate NF-kappaB. The implication of pX-HBXAP interaction in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma is discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Meir
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Shamay
authors.forename: Orr
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Barak
authors.forename: Gilad
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Doitsh
authors.forename: Israel
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Ben-Dor
authors.forename: Yosef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shaul
mesh_terms: D020816:Amino Acid Motifs; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D015153:Blotting, Western; D019556:COS Cells; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D018076:DNA, Complementary / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000378:metabolism; D005816:Genetic Complementation Test; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D010957:Plasmids / Q000378:metabolism; D011233:Precipitin Tests; D011485:Protein Binding; D017434:Protein Structure, Tertiary; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013696:Temperature; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000378:metabolism; D020798:Two-Hybrid System Techniques; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D018076:DNA, Complementary; D016328:NF-kappa B; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; C452851:RSF1 protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; C057628:hepatitis B virus X protein; D012313:RNA