Patterns of Single- and Double-stranded Hepatitis B Virus DNA and Viral Antigen Accumulation in Infected Liver Cells
Open Access
- 1 June 1983
- journal article
- research article
- Published by Microbiology Society in Journal of General Virology
- Vol. 64 (6), 1229-1239
- https://doi.org/10.1099/0022-1317-64-6-1229
Abstract
Summary Liver sections from five patients with persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and active cirrhosis were shown to contain intracellular HBV DNA by in situ hybridization using cloned 3H-labelled HBV DNA probes. Two classes of infected cells, with different distributions throughout the liver, were distinguished: (i) cells containing a low copy number of double-stranded HBV nucleotide sequences, confined to the cell nucleus and thought to represent HBV DNA, and (ii) cells containing large amounts (estimated to be greater than 10 or 15 genome copies per cell) of HBV DNA, much of it in a single-stranded form and largely confined to the cell cytoplasm; these single-stranded regions represented widely separated regions of the HBV genome, in contrast to the structure of the DNA in mature virions. It is likely that these latter cells may be supporting viral DNA synthesis. Cells with large amounts of cytoplasmic HBV DNA invariably contained hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) and in addition contained either no detectable hepatitis B core antigen (HBcAg), or cytoplasmic HBcAg or nuclear HBcAg in that order of frequency. Cytoplasmic HBcAg was highly predictive of the presence of large amounts of cytoplasmic HBV DNA in the same cell, while either nuclear HBcAg, or cytoplasmic HBsAg, were often seen both in cells with and without such levels of DNA. These patterns, relating HBV DNA and antigen content in naturally occurring asynchronous infection in a heterogeneous cell population, should provide a background to further studies of the virus replication cycle with a defined experimental system, when such a system becomes available.This publication has 14 references indexed in Scilit:
- DETECTION OF HEPATITIS B VIRUS DNA IN LIVER AND SERUM: A DIRECT APPRAISAL OF THE CHRONIC CARRIER STATEThe Lancet, 1981
- The Detection of DNA Tumour Virus-specific RNA Sequences in Abnormal Human Cervical Biopsies by in situ HybridizationJournal of General Virology, 1981
- State of hepatitis B virus DNA in hepatocytes of patients with hepatitis B surface antigen-positive and -negative liver diseases.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1981
- Expression in Escherichia coli of hepatitis B virus DNA sequences cloned in plasmid pBR322Nature, 1979
- Acetylation of chromosome squashes of Drosophila melanogaster decreases the background in autoradiographs from hybridization with [125I]-labeled RNA.Journal of Histochemistry & Cytochemistry, 1978
- Detection of Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) DNA sequences using in situ hybridizationBiochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA) - Nucleic Acids and Protein Synthesis, 1978
- Association of e antigen with Dane particle DNA in sera from asymptomatic carriers of hepatitis B surface antigen.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1977
- In situ hybridization analysis of polyoma DNA replication in an inducible line of polyoma transformed cellsCell, 1977
- SANDED NUCLEI IN HEPATITIS-B - EOSINOPHILIC INCLUSIONS IN LIVER-CELL NUCLEI DUE TO EXCESS IN HEPATITIS-B CORE ANTIGEN FORMATION1976
- Cytochemical Studies on the Intranuclear Inclusion of Herpes SimplexThe Journal of Immunology, 1950