title: Hepatitis C virus NS2 protein inhibits gene expression from different cellular and viral promoters in hepatic and nonhepatic cell lines.
abstract: The mechanisms leading to viral persistence and hepatocarcinogenesis in hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection are not fully understood. Recently, evidence has been accumulated that HCV viral proteins might interfere with gene expression of host cells. Here, we demonstrate that the amino-terminal portion of HCV NS2 protein inhibits the expression of reporter genes driven by different promoters or enhancer elements and also inhibits hepatitis B virus (HBV) gene expression and HBV DNA replication. The inhibitory effect of HCV NS2 on liver and non-liver-specific promoters and enhancer elements might be relevant for the pathogenesis of chronic HCV infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine I, University of Bonn, Sigmund Freud Strasse 25, Germany. dumoulin@uni-bonn.de
authors.forename: Franz Ludwig
authors.initials: FL
authors.lastname: Dumoulin
authors.forename: Annette
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: von dem Bussche
authors.forename: Jisu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: Leila
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Khamzina
authors.forename: Jack R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Wands
authors.forename: Tilman
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sauerbruch
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Spengler
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D015870:Gene Expression; D006521:Hepatitis, Chronic / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D014779:Virus Replication
chemical_list: C097010:NS2 protein, Hepatitis C virus; D017361:Viral Nonstructural Proteins