Lidan Hou, Jie Zhao, Liuxin Cai, Ling Jin, Boqiang Liu, Shijie Li, Jin Yang, Tong Ji, Songyi Li, Liang Shi, Bo Shen, Hong Yu, Yifan Wang, Xiujun Cai
Hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) seropositivity during the natural history of chronic hepatitis B (CHB) is known to coincide with significant increases in serum and intrahepatic HBV DNA levels. However, the precise underlying mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we found that PreC (HBeAg precursor) genetic ablation leads to reduced viral replication both in vitro and in vivo. Furthermore, PreC impedes the proteasomal degradation of HBV polymerase, promoting viral replication. We discovered that PreC interacts with SUV39H1, a histone methyltransferase, resulting in a reduction in the expression of Cdt2, an adaptor protein of CRL4 E3 ligase targeting HBV polymerase...
April 2024: Journal of Medical Virology