Proteolytic Self-Cleavage of Hepatitis B Virus Core Protein May Generate Serum e Antigen
- 8 May 1987
- journal article
- research article
- Published by American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Science
- Vol. 236 (4802), 722-725
- https://doi.org/10.1126/science.3554507
Abstract
A model is proposed to explain the presence of the e antigen (HBeAg) of hepatitis B virus (HBV) in the serum of individuals infected with this virus. The e antigen, which has only recently been characterized, is a fragment of the virus core, or nucleocapsid, protein. Serum HBeAg is a valuable clinical marker for active HBV infection because its appearance correlates both with virus replication in the liver and with the presence of circulating virions. In this study a protease-like amino acid sequence was identified at the amino terminus of the core protein sequence. Experimental evidence indicates that HBeAg may be produced by proteolytic self-cleavage of the core protein.This publication has 19 references indexed in Scilit:
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