Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection could cause hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV-mediated pathogenesis is only partially understood, but X protein (HBx) reportedly possesses oncogenic potential. Exosomes are small membrane vesicles with diverse functions released by various cells including hepatocytes, and HBV harnesses cellular exosome biogenesis and export machineries for virion morphogenesis and secretion. Therefore, HBV infection might cause changes in exosome contents with functional implications for both virus and host. In this project, exosome protein content changes induced by HBV and HBx were quantitatively analyzed by SILAC/LC-MS/MS. Exosomes prepared from SILAC-labeled hepatoma cell line Huh-7 transfected with HBx, wildtype or HBx-null HBV replicon plasmids were analyzed by LC-MS/MS.
Project description:The hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) has been implicated as an oncogene in both epigenetic modifications and genetic regulation during hepatocarcinogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms are not entirely clear. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which regulate gene expression with little or no protein-coding capacity, are involved in diverse biological processes and in carcinogenesis. We asked whether HBx could promote hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by regulating the expression of lncRNAs.In this study, we investigated the alteration in expression of lncRNAs induced by HBx using microarrays, and our results indicate that HBx transgenic mice have a specific profile of liver lncRNAs compared with wild-type mice.
Project description:Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains to be the most common risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While work has primarily focussed on understanding the direct and indirect mechanisms of Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) mediated hepatocarcinogenesis, from genetic and epigenetic perspectives, its influence on RNA modification mediated onset of liver malignancies is less well understood. This study explored the role of HBV-encoded HBx in altering the m6A methylome profile and its implications on the pathogenesis of HCC. We established HBx expressing stable HCC cell lines, Huh7-HBx and HepG2-HBx, and explored the transcriptomic and epitranscriptomic profiles by RNA-seq and MeRIP-seq, respectively. Preliminary results suggest that HBx promotes liver cell proliferation, migration, survival and overall m6A methylation in HCC cells and is involved in modulating the extracellular matrix. We show that HBx mediates liver cell transformation by upregulating KIAA1429 methyltransferase. HBx also drives the expression and hypermethylation of the extracellular matrix protein HSPG2/Perlecan and promotes tumourigenesis. Our findings indicate a potential interaction between KIAA1429 and HSPG2, thus could be novel targets in combating HBx-driven HCC and warrants further investigation.
Project description:Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) remains to be the most common risk factor of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While work has primarily focussed on understanding the direct and indirect mechanisms of Hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) mediated hepatocarcinogenesis, from genetic and epigenetic perspectives, its influence on RNA modification mediated onset of liver malignancies is less well understood. This study explored the role of HBV-encoded HBx in altering the m6A methylome profile and its implications on the pathogenesis of HCC. We established HBx expressing stable HCC cell lines, Huh7-HBx and HepG2-HBx, and explored the transcriptomic and epitranscriptomic profiles by RNA-seq and MeRIP-seq, respectively. Preliminary results suggest that HBx promotes liver cell proliferation, migration, survival and overall m6A methylation in HCC cells and is involved in modulating the extracellular matrix. We show that HBx mediates liver cell transformation by upregulating KIAA1429 methyltransferase. HBx also drives the expression and hypermethylation of the extracellular matrix protein HSPG2/Perlecan and promotes tumourigenesis. Our findings indicate a potential interaction between KIAA1429 and HSPG2, thus could be novel targets in combating HBx-driven HCC and warrants further investigation.
Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been clearly recognized as an etiological factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV encodes the potentially oncogenic HBx protein. We aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanism of HCC caused by HBx and to discover the biomarker related to HCC by HBx. Three experimental groups, 3, 9 and 13 month aged HBx Tg mice and age matched normal wild type B6 mouse which have same background of HBx Tg mice were used to find differentially expressed genes during HCC. Keywords: Genetic modification
Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been clearly recognized as an etiological factor for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HBV encodes the potentially oncogenic HBx protein. We aimed to elucidate the molecular mechanism of HCC caused by HBx and to discover the biomarker related to HCC by HBx. Three experimental groups, 3, 9 and 13 month aged HBx Tg mice and age matched normal wild type B6 mouse which have same background of HBx Tg mice were used to find differentially expressed genes during HCC. Keywords: Genetic modification 3-month-old, 9-month-old, 13-month-old wild type B6 mice vs 3-month-old, 9-month-old, 13-month-old HBx transfected mice; Biological replicates at each timepoint; 9 controls vs 9 HBx-mice
Project description:Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection could cause hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HBV-mediated pathogenesis is only partially understood, but X protein (HBx) reportedly possesses oncogenic potential. Exosomes are small membrane vesicles with diverse functions released by various cells including hepatocytes, and HBV harnesses cellular exosome biogenesis and export machineries for virion morphogenesis and secretion. Therefore, HBV infection might cause changes in exosome contents with functional implications for both virus and host. In this project, exosome protein content changes induced by HBV and HBx were quantitatively analyzed by SILAC/LC-MS/MS. Exosomes prepared from SILAC-labeled hepatoma cell line Huh-7 transfected with HBx, wildtype or HBx-null HBV replicon plasmids were analyzed by LC-MS/MS.
Project description:The hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) has been implicated as an oncogene in both epigenetic modifications and genetic regulation during hepatocarcinogenesis, but the underlying mechanisms are not entirely clear. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs), which regulate gene expression with little or no protein-coding capacity, are involved in diverse biological processes and in carcinogenesis. We asked whether HBx could promote hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) by regulating the expression of lncRNAs.In this study, we investigated the alteration in expression of lncRNAs induced by HBx using microarrays, and our results indicate that HBx transgenic mice have a specific profile of liver lncRNAs compared with wild-type mice. For these experiments, six each of 20-month-old male HBx-transgenic mice and wild-type C57BL/6 mice were sacrificed and the livers were removed. Every three livers were pooled as one sample; therefore, each group was represented by two samples. The total RNA was extracted from the four samples and used for microarray experiments. Mouse LncRNA Array (4 x 44K, ArrayStar, Rockville, MD) were used to monitor the expression level of approximately 14000 lncRNAs identified from the NCBI RefSeq, UCSC, RNAdb2.0, NRED, Fantom3.0 and UCRs. LncRNAs differentially expressed were identified by comparing expression levels in HBx-transgenic mice and wild-type mice.