title: PreC and C Regions of Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus Facilitate Persistent Expression of Surface Antigen of Chimeric WHV-HBV Virus in the Hydrodynamic Injection BALB/c Mouse Model.
abstract: In the hydrodynamic injection (HI) BALB/c mouse model with the overlength viral genome, we have found that woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV) could persist for a prolonged period of time (up to 45 weeks), while hepatitis B virus (HBV) was mostly cleared at week four. In this study, we constructed a series of chimeric genomes based on HBV and WHV, in which the individual sequences of a 1.3-fold overlength HBV genome in pBS-HBV1.3 were replaced by their counterparts from WHV. After HI with the WHV-HBV chimeric constructs in BALB/c mice, serum viral antigen, viral DNA (vDNA), and intrahepatic viral antigen expression were analyzed to evaluate the persistence of the chimeric genomes. Interestingly, we found that HI with three chimeric WHV-HBV genomes resulted in persistent antigenemia in mice. All of the persistent chimeric genomes contained the preC region and the part of the C region encoding the N-terminal 1-145 amino acids of the WHV genome. These results indicated that the preC region and the N-terminal part of the C region of the WHV genome may play a role in the persistent antigenemia. The chimeric WHV-HBV genomes were able to stably express viral antigens in the liver and could be further used to express hepadnaviral antigens to study their pathogenic potential.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. wuweimin2012@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Weimin
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. liuyan_54321@126.com.
authors.forename: Yan
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. linyong1027@163.com.
authors.forename: Yong
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Lin
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. pande20080901@163.com.
authors.forename: Danzhen
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Pan
authors.affiliation: Department of Infectious Diseases, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, China. dlyang@hust.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Dongliang
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. mengji.lu@uni-due.de.|Institute of Virology, University Hospital of Essen, 45147 Essen, Germany. mengji.lu@uni-due.de.
authors.forename: Mengji
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lu
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathogen Biology, School of Basic Medicine, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China. orangexuyang@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Yang
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000097:blood; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D017919:Hepatitis B Virus, Woodchuck / Q000235:genetics*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000473:pathology / Q000821:virology*; D008099:Liver / Q000821:virology; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D011995:Recombination, Genetic
chemical_list: D000956:Antigens, Viral; D004279:DNA, Viral; D006512:Hepatitis B Core Antigens; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens
keywords: chimeric genome; hepatitis B virus; mouse model; woodchuck hepatitis virus