title: The earliest steps in hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: The early steps in hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, a human hepadnavirus, initiates from cell attachment followed by entry and delivery of the genetic information to the nucleus. Despite the fact that these steps determine the virus-related pathogenesis, their molecular basis is poorly understood. Cumulative data suggest that this process can be divided to cell attachment, endocytosis, membrane fusion and post-fusion consecutive steps. These steps are likely to be regulated by the viral envelope proteins and by the cellular membrane, receptors and extracellular matrix. In the absence of animal model for HBV, the duck hepadnavirus DHBV turned out to be a fruitful animal model. Therefore data concerning the early, post-attachment steps in hepadnaviral entry are largely based on studies performed with DHBV in primary duck liver hepatocytes. These studies are now starting to illuminate the mechanisms of hepadnavirus route of cell entry and to provide some new insights on the molecular basis of the strict species specificity of hepadnavirus infection.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science, Rehovot 76100, Israel.
authors.forename: Arik
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cooper
authors.forename: Nir
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Paran
authors.forename: Yosef
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Shaul
mesh_terms: D021581:Active Transport, Cell Nucleus; D000818:Animals; D002448:Cell Adhesion; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000821:virology; D004372:Ducks; D004705:Endocytosis; D006509:Hepatitis B / Q000821:virology*; D015611:Hepatitis B Virus, Duck / Q000472:pathogenicity; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics / Q000472:pathogenicity* / Q000648:ultrastructure; D008561:Membrane Fusion; D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D014759:Viral Envelope Proteins