Exploring the biological basis of hepatitis B e

liver411

HEPATOLOGY
November 2003 . Volume 38 . Number 5
Concise Review in Mechanisms of Disease

Exploring the biological basis of hepatitis B e antigen in hepatitis B virus
infection

David Milich1
T. Jake Liang2

   Abstract
The function of the hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg) is largely unknown because
it is not required for viral assembly, replication, or infection. In this
report we chronicle clinical and experimental studies in an attempt to
understand the role of HBeAg in natural infection. These studies largely
have focused on clinical-pathologic features of HBeAg-negative variants in
acute and chronic HBV infection, mutational analysis in animal models of
hepadnavirus infection, and the use of transgenic murine models. The
clinical and experimental data suggest that serum HBeAg may serve an
immunoregulatory role in natural infection. To the contrary, cytosolic HBeAg
serves as a target for the inflammatory immune response. These dual roles of
the HBeAg and its ability to activate or tolerize T cells show the
complexity of the interactions between the HBeAg and the host during HBV
infection. (HEPATOLOGY 2003;38:1075-1086.)


   Publishing and Reprint Information
From the 1Vaccine Research Institute of San Diego, San Diego, CA; and the
2Liver Diseases Section, National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and
Kidney Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD.
Received June 4, 2003.
Accepted August 5, 2003.
Address reprint requests to: David Milich, Ph.D., Vaccine Research Institute
of San Diego, 3030 Bunker Hill St., Suite 300, San Diego, CA 92109. E-mail:
[email protected] ; fax: 858-581-3970.
Copyright © 2003 by the American Association for the Study of Liver
Diseases.
0270-9139/03/3805-0002$30.00/0
doi:10.1053/jhep.2003.50453