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Narula P, Kiruthika S, Chowdhari S, Vivekanandan P, Chugh A. Inhibition of Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) by Tachyplesin, a Marine Antimicrobial Cell-Penetrating Peptide. Pharmaceutics 2023; 15:pharmaceutics15020672. [PMID: 36839994 PMCID: PMC9962029 DOI: 10.3390/pharmaceutics15020672] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2022] [Revised: 12/05/2022] [Accepted: 02/14/2023] [Indexed: 02/19/2023] Open
Abstract
We investigate the role of Tachyplesin (Tpl), a marine antimicrobial cell-penetrating peptide, as an anti-HBV agent. Our findings, using confocal microscopy and flow cytometry, demonstrate the internalization of FITC-Tpl in both Huh7 and HepG2 cell lines. Further, our results show that Tpl inhibits the expression of HBV proteins, including hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and hepatitis B 'e' antigen (HBeAg) in cell supernatants of human liver cell lines transfected with 1.3× pHBV. Interestingly Tpl also reduces levels of HBV pre-core RNA and HBV pregenomic RNA, suggesting that Tpl-mediated inhibition occurs at the early stages of HBV replication, including viral transcription. In addition, Tpl led to a significant reduction in levels of hepatitis B virion secretion. In sum, here we demonstrate the potent anti-HBV activity of Tpl at non-cytotoxic concentrations indicating the potential of Tpl to emerge as an effective therapeutic peptide against HBV.
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Anwer A, Khan S, Amir F, Bhat SA, Azam SA, Hasan SK, Afroz M, Waseem R, Islam A, Parveen S, Kazim SN. Novel chimeric vectors harboring hepatitis B viral promoter and reporter gene demonstrated liver-specific significance. Future Virol 2022. [DOI: 10.2217/fvl-2021-0259] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/21/2022]
Abstract
Aim: Expression of EGFP was investigated to ascertain the strength and specificity of CMV, U6 and hepatitis B virus (HBV) core promoters in hepatic and non-hepatic cells. Materials and methods: pSilencer-2.1 plasmid vector is known for siRNA-based inhibition. To achieve target-specific correction of disease-causing genes, pSilencer-GFP was constructed. For liver specific expression of therapeutic genes, endogenous U6 promoter of pSilencer-2.1 was replaced with HBV core promoter and ubiquitously active CMV promoter. Results: Transfection results showed that GFP expression under the control of HBV core promoter was higher in hepatic Hep3B than non-hepatic HEK293T cells. Conclusion: HBV core promoter could lead to specific expression in hepatocytes, which might be used in gene therapy of liver diseases as well as for siRNA-based therapeutic strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Ayesha Anwer
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Saniya Khan
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Fatima Amir
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Sajad Ahmad Bhat
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Syed Ali Azam
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Syed Kazim Hasan
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Masarrat Afroz
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Rashid Waseem
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Asimul Islam
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Shama Parveen
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
| | - Syed Naqui Kazim
- Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences, Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi, 110025, India
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Elizalde MM, Tadey L, Mammana L, Quarleri JF, Campos RH, Flichman DM. Biological Characterization of Hepatitis B virus Genotypes: Their Role in Viral Replication and Antigen Expression. Front Microbiol 2021; 12:758613. [PMID: 34803982 PMCID: PMC8600256 DOI: 10.3389/fmicb.2021.758613] [Citation(s) in RCA: 11] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/14/2021] [Accepted: 10/13/2021] [Indexed: 01/12/2023] Open
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) inter-host evolution has resulted in genomic diversification reflected in the existence of nine genotypes (A-I) and numerous subgenotypes. There is growing evidence that genotypes influence HBV natural history, clinical outcomes, and treatment response. However, the biological characteristics underlying these differences have not yet been established. By transfecting HuH-7 cells with unit-length constructs of genotypes A2, B2, C1, D1, and F1b, we identified major differences in HBV replicative capacity and antigen expression across genotypes. Genotypes B2 and F1b showed a 2-fold increase in cccDNA levels compared to the other genotypes (p<0.005). Genotype A2 expressed the lowest pgRNA levels, with a 70-fold decrease in relation to the other genotypes (p<0.0001), while genotype B2 showed the lowest Precore RNA levels, with a 100-fold reduction compared to genotype A2 (p<0.0001). The highest intracellular HBV DNA levels were observed for genotype B2 and the lowest for genotypes A2 and C1 (p<0.0001). Regarding antigen expression, genotype F1b secreted the highest HBsAg levels and genotype D1 the lowest (p<0.0001), while genotypes A2 and B2 showed the highest intracellular HBsAg levels (p<0.0001). Interestingly, genotype C1 secreted the highest HBeAg levels, while genotype A2 showed the highest intracellular levels (p<0.0001). Finally, the analysis of the intra/extracellular antigen ratios revealed that most genotypes retained intracellularly 5-20% of the antigens, except the genotype A2 that retained 50% of the total expressed antigens. In conclusion, this study provides new insights into the biological characteristics of HBV genotypes, being the first study to comparatively analyze European (A and D) and Asian (B and C) genotypes with the Latin American (F) genotype. The differences in HBV replication and antigen expression might contribute to understand the differential role of genotypes in pathogenesis.
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Affiliation(s)
- María Mercedes Elizalde
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida (INBIRS), CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Luciana Tadey
- Unidad de Virología, Hospital de Infecciosas "Francisco J. Muñiz", Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Lilia Mammana
- Unidad de Virología, Hospital de Infecciosas "Francisco J. Muñiz", Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Jorge Fabián Quarleri
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida (INBIRS), CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Rodolfo Héctor Campos
- Departamento de Microbiología, Inmunología, Biotecnología y Genética, Cátedra de Virología, Facultad de Farmacia y Bioquímica, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
| | - Diego Martín Flichman
- Instituto de Investigaciones Biomédicas en Retrovirus y Sida (INBIRS), CONICET, Universidad de Buenos Aires, Buenos Aires, Argentina.,Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET), Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Kiruthika S, Bhat R, Dash R, Rathore AS, Vivekanandan P, Jayaram B. A novel piperazine derivative that targets hepatitis B surface antigen effectively inhibits tenofovir resistant hepatitis B virus. Sci Rep 2021; 11:11723. [PMID: 34083665 DOI: 10.1038/s41598-021-91196-1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/02/2021] [Accepted: 05/19/2021] [Indexed: 02/04/2023] Open
Abstract
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a global problem. The loss of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) in serum is a therapeutic end point. Prolonged therapy with nucleoside/nucleotide analogues targeting the HBV-polymerase may lead to resistance and rarely results in the loss of HBsAg. Therefore, inhibitors targeting HBsAg may have potential therapeutic applications. Here, we used computational virtual screening, docking, and molecular dynamics simulations to identify potential small molecule inhibitors against HBsAg. After screening a million molecules from ZINC database, we identified small molecules with potential anti-HBV activity. Subsequently, cytotoxicity profiles and anti-HBV activities of these small molecules were tested using a widely used cell culture model for HBV. We identified a small molecule (ZINC20451377) which binds to HBsAg with high affinity, with a KD of 65.3 nM, as determined by Surface Plasmon Resonance spectroscopy. Notably, the small molecule inhibited HBsAg production and hepatitis B virion secretion (10 μM) at low micromolar concentrations and was also efficacious against a HBV quadruple mutant (CYEI mutant) resistant to tenofovir. We conclude that this small molecule exhibits strong anti-HBV properties and merits further testing.
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Li Z, Ma L, Di L, Lin X. MicroRNA‑1271‑5p alleviates the malignant development of hepatitis B virus‑mediated liver cancer via binding to AQP5. Mol Med Rep 2021; 23:386. [PMID: 33760167 PMCID: PMC7986005 DOI: 10.3892/mmr.2021.12025] [Citation(s) in RCA: 6] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/26/2019] [Accepted: 10/06/2020] [Indexed: 12/26/2022] Open
Abstract
Hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a leading cause of liver-related cancer. Progress has been made on the study of microRNA (miRNA or miR) function in HBV-related liver cancer. Hence, the objective of the present study was to determine the role and functional mechanism of miR-1271-5p in HBV-associated liver cancer. miR-1271-5p and aquaporin 5 (AQP5) expression at the mRNA level were measured by reverse transcription-quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR). The levels of hepatitis B e-antigen (HBeAg), hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and HBV DNA were assessed by ELISA or qPCR. Cell viability, apoptosis, migration and invasion were detected by Cell Counting Kit-8, flow cytometry or Transwell assay. The interaction of miR-1271-5p and AQP5 was predicted by TargetScan, and verified by Dual-luciferase reporter assay and RNA binding protein immunoprecipitation assay. The protein levels of AQP5, Bax, Bcl-2, cleaved-caspase-3 and proliferating cell nuclear antigen were quantified by western blot analysis. Nude mouse tumorigenicity assay was conducted to examine the role of miR-1271-5p in vivo. miR-1271-5p was downregulated, while AQP5 was upregulated in HBV-related liver cancer cells and tissues. Overexpression of miR-1271-5p or AQP5 knockdown inhibited the levels of HBeAg, HBsAg and HBV DNA, blocked cell viability, migration and invasion, and induced apoptosis. AQP5 was confirmed to be a direct target of miR-1271-5p, and miR-1271-5p exerted its role through targeting AQP5. Overexpression of miR-1271-5p impeded tumor growth in vivo by weakening the expression of AQP5. In conclusion, miR-1271-5p blocked the progression of HBV-induced liver cancer by competitively targeting AQP5.
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Affiliation(s)
- Zhigang Li
- Department of Infectious Diseases, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Shandong First Medical University, Tai'an, Shandong 271000, P.R. China
| | - Lin Ma
- Department of Pharmacy, Liaocheng People's Hospital, Liaocheng, Shandong 252000, P.R. China
| | - Lingling Di
- Department of General Surgery, Central Hospital of Xinwen Mining Group Co., Ltd., Tai'an, Shandong 271000, P.R. China
| | - Xutao Lin
- Department of Hepatobiliary Surgery, Binzhou Medical University Hospital, Binzhou, Shandong 256600, P.R. China
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