Several high-frequency pre-S mutations identified in occult HBV infection (OBI) significantly promote cell proliferation. (IMAGE)
Caption
Huh-7 cells were transfected with wild-type (WT) or 20 OBI-associated high-frequency pre-S mutant plasmids. Cells were harvested at 48 h and 72 h after transfection, and conducted cell proliferation assays and Western blotting analysis were conducted, respectively. (A, B) Cell proliferation assay results for 10 pre-S1 mutations (n = 3). (C, D) Cell proliferation assay results for 10 pre-S2 mutations (n = 3). (E) Representative Western blotting images of intracellular hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels in cells transfected with 11 proliferation-promoting pre-S mutant plasmids. LHBs, MHBs, and SHBs denote the large, middle, and small hepatitis B surface proteins, respectively. (F) Absolute intracellular expression levels of LHBs, quantified by the densitometric values of LHBs bands (mutant groups are presented relative to WT, n = 3). (G) LHBs/SHBs ratio in cells transfected with pre-S T68I, T126I, and H128R plasmids, calculated from the densitometric values of SHBs and LHBs bands (n = 3). Detailed statistical results are provided in Table S1. ∗P < 0.05, ∗∗P < 0.01, and ∗∗∗P < 0.001.
Credit
Huizhen Sun, Ling Mei, Shi Song, Qian Su, Ying Yan, Huimin Ji, Jie Ma, Le Chang, Lunan Wang
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