Virology. 2017 Jun 9;509:67-70. doi: 10.1016/j.virol.2017.05.017. [Epub ahead of print]
Hepatitis B surface antigen on subviral particles reduces the neutralizing effect of anti-HBs antibodies on hepatitis B viral particles in vitro.Rydell GE1, Prakash K2, Norder H3, Lindh M4. Author information 1Department of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 41346 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].2Department of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 41346 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].3Department of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 41346 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].4Department of Infectious Diseases, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, 41346 Gothenburg, Sweden. Electronic address: [email protected].
AbstractDuring hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections subviral particles (SVP) consisting mainly of hepatitis B surface antigen are present at much higher concentration than viral particles (VP) in serum. To investigate reasons for this excess of SVP production, SVP and VP were fractionated on a Nycodenz gradient and analyzed for HBV infection of HepG2-NTCP cells with and without anti-HBs antibodies. Our findings showed that SVP significantly reduced the neutralization of VP by anti-HBs, while SVP had little effect on viral entry, supporting the assumption that SVP serve as decoy facilitating cell-to-cell spread of HBV in the presence of neutralizing antibodies.