Successful Construction Of Eukaryotic Plasmids Containing HBV C Genotype

Main Category: Liver Disease / Hepatitis
Also Included In: Infectious Diseases / Bacteria / Viruses;  GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology;  Genetics
Article Date: 28 Sep 2008 - 8:00 PDT

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HBV infection remains a major health problem in the world. Several data have revealed that lamivudine can efficiently promote the treatment of hepatitis B. However, a long-term treatment of lamivudine leads to the emergence of lamivudine-resistant mutants (YMDD mutants), which hampers the anti-HBV therapy. Therefore, researches related to HBV lamivudine-resistant mechanism has been of great significance. Up to date, many researches using eukaryotic plasmids containing either one type of HBV YMDD mutant or wild-type strains, without specification of HBV genotype, were reported. However, serial plasmids containing a specific HBV genotype, such as genotype C, and lamivudine-resistant sequences, which will allow systematic studies on the combined effects of HBV genotype together with lamivudine-resistant mutations, have not been reported.

A research article published on 21 June 2008, in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this. The research team led by Prof. Gu Hongxi from Department of Microbiology of Harbin Medical University successfully constructed the eukaryotic expression plasmidspc DNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YMDD, pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YVDD, and pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YIDD. After being transfected into HepG2 cells, these plasmids could efficiently express viral DNA and antigens of HBV genotype C wild-types, YVDD, and YIDD mutation, respectively. These results provide an experimental basis for further in vitro studies on HBV lamivudine-resistant mutants.

The successful construction of the 3 eukaryotic plasmids, pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YMDD, pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YVDD, and pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YIDD, provides an experimental basis for the establishment of stable expression system of HBV genotype C lamivudine-resistant mutants. The results may contribute to further in vitro antiviral studies of HBV genotype C lamivudine-resistant mutants, such as establishing a stable expression system of HBV genotype C lamivudine-resistant mutants, studying on the mechanism of HBV lamivudine-resistance.

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Article adapted by Medical News Today from original press release.
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Reference: Xu WZ, Fang Y, Li D, Wang Y, Shang QL, Li GQ, Teng X, Gu HX. Construction and expression of eukaryotic plasmids containing lamivudine-resistant or wild-type stains of HBV C genotype. World J Gastroenterol 2008;14 (23): 3733-3738 http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/3733.asp

Correspondence to: Hong-Xi Gu, Department of Microbiology, Harbin Medical University, No.157, Baojian Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang Province, China.

About World Journal of Gastroenterology

World Journal of Gastroenterology (WJG), a leading international journal in gastroenterology and hepatology, has established a reputation for publishing first class research on esophageal cancer, gastric cancer, liver cancer, viral hepatitis, colorectal cancer, and H pylori infection and provides a forum for both clinicians and scientists. WJG has been indexed and abstracted in Current Contents/Clinical Medicine, Science Citation Index Expanded (also known as SciSearch) and Journal Citation Reports/Science Edition, Index Medicus, MEDLINE and PubMed, Chemical Abstracts, EMBASE/Excerpta Medica, Abstracts Journals, Nature Clinical Practice Gastroenterology and Hepatology, CAB Abstracts and Global Health. ISI JCR 2003-2000 IF: 3.318, 2.532, 1.445 and 0.993. WJG is a weekly journal published by WJG Press. The publication dates are the 7th, 14th, 21st, and 28th day of every month. WJG is supported by The National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 30224801 and No. 30424812, and was founded with the name of China National Journal of New Gastroenterology on October 1, 1995, and renamed WJG on January 25, 1998.

About The WJG Press

The WJG Press mainly publishes World Journal of Gastroenterology.

Source: Lai-Fu Li
World Journal of Gastroenterology