http://jvi.asm.org/content/87/4/2352.abstract?etoc
Impaired Virion Secretion by Hepatitis B Virus Immune Escape Mutants and Its Rescue by Wild-Type Envelope Proteins or a Second-Site Mutation
由乙肝病毒免疫逃逸突变体及其野生型的包膜蛋白的救援或第二位点突变的病毒粒子分泌受损
Karen Kweia,*,
Xiaoli Tanga,*,
Anna S. Lokb,
Camille Sureauc,
Tamako Garciaa,*,
Jisu Lia,
Jack Wandsa and
Shuping Tonga
- Author Affiliations
aLiver Research Center, Rhode Island Hospital, Brown University, Providence, Rhode Island, USA
bDivision of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan Health Systems, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA
cLaboratoire de Virologie Moleculaire, INTS, Paris, France
ABSTRACT
Hepatitis B virus immune escape mutants have been associated with vaccine failure and reinfection of grafted liver despite immune prophylaxis, but their biological properties remain largely unknown. Transfection of 20 such mutants in a human hepatoma cell line identified many with severe impairment in virion secretion, which can be rescued to various extents by coexpression of wild-type envelope proteins or introduction of a novel glycosylation site. Consistent with their role in maintaining intra- or intermolecular disulfide bonds, cysteine residues within the “a” determinant are critical for virion secretion.