microRNA在乙型肝炎病毒感染及相关疾病中的作用

乙型肝炎病毒(hepatitis B virus,HBV)是一种嗜肝性DNA病毒,感染后可导致急性和慢性肝炎,而慢性感染是导致肝硬化、肝癌和肝衰竭的主要病因。在乙型肝炎病毒复制、转录和相关疾病进程中,microRNA(miRNA)扮演着重要的角色。乙型肝炎病毒感染肝细胞后能引起细胞内microRNA表达谱的改变:一方面,microRNA能促进乙型肝炎病毒的转录和诱导宿主细胞向肿瘤细胞转化;另一方面,microRNA也能抑制乙型肝炎病毒包装和复制。重要的是,乙型肝炎病毒的感染能影响宿主血清microRNA的表达。因此,这类特殊的microRNA今后可成为乙型肝炎病毒相关疾病诊断的潜在生物标记物。将对乙型肝炎病毒与宿主microRNA之间相互作用及其相关生物学效应作一综述。     

Synergistic regulation of the mouse orphan nuclear receptor SHP gene promoter by CLOCK-BMAL1 and LRH-1

Small heterodimer partner (SHP; NR0B2) is an orphan nuclear receptor and acts as a repressor for wide variety of nuclear hormone receptors. We demonstrated here that mouse SHP mRNA showed a circadian expression pattern in the liver. Transient transfection of the mSHP promoter demonstrated that CLOCK-BMAL1, core circadian clock components, bound to E-box (CACGTG), and stimulated the promoter activity by 4-fold. Liver receptor homologue-1 (LRH-1; NR5A2) stimulated the mSHP promoter, and CLOCK-BMAL1 synergistically enhanced the LRH-1-mediated transactivation. Interestingly, SHP did not affect the CLOCK-BMAL1-mediated promoter activity, but strongly repressed the synergistic activation of CLOCK-BMAL1 and LRH-1. Furthermore, in vitro pull-down assays revealed the existence of direct protein-protein interaction between LRH-1 and CLOCK. In summary, this study shows that CLOCK-BMAL1, LRH-1 and SHP coordinately regulate the mSHP gene to generate the circadian oscillation. The cyclic expression of mSHP may affect daily activity of other nuclear receptors and contribute to circadian liver functions.     

LRH-1在肿瘤及干细胞中的功能研究进展

核受体(nuclear receptors,NRs)是转录因子家族中最大的成员,多以配体依赖的方式特异性调节其靶基因的表达,参与机体代谢、发育和生殖功能的调控。LRH-1(liver receptor homolog-1),也称为NR5A2(nuclear receptor subfamily 5,group A,member 2),是核受体家族的成员,作为转录共激活子调控相关基因的表达。LRH-1调控多种重要的生理功能,包括调节脂肪酸和胆固醇的代谢,另外在胚胎发育和分化中也起了重要作用。LRH-1在促进多种癌症的发生过程中扮演重要的角色,如结肠癌、胰腺癌、卵巢癌和乳腺癌。随着对LRH-1研究的深入,其在疾病和胚胎干细胞中的功能作用已备受关注,这也使得LRH-1成为了许多疾病的潜在治疗靶点。     

小环载体介导的siRNA 稳定抑制乙肝病毒的复制和表达

【目的】尝试构建表达小干扰RNA(small interfering RNA,siRNA)的小环载体,并初步鉴定其对乙肝病毒(hepatitis B virus,HBV)复制及其基因表达的抑制作用。【方法】设计并合成靶向HBV S区的siRNA,将其克隆到小环载体pMC.BESPX-MCS2上,测序正确后将重组体pMC-H1-siHBS-U6转化入感受态E.coliZYCY10P3S2T,然后在培养基中加入L-阿拉伯糖,诱导其降解细菌骨架,获取只含有目的基因表达盒的小环RNA干扰载体pmc-H1-siHBS-U6。将小环RNA干扰载体与HBV真核表达质粒pHBV1.3共转染Huh-7细胞,分别在转染后1-7天,ELISA法检测Huh-7细胞上清中的HBsAg、HBeAg,并且通过Real-time RT-PCR法分析干扰RNA对HBV DNA及mRNA的抑制效果。【结果】成功构建了靶向HBV S基因的siRNA小环表达载体pmc-H1-siHBS-U6。该载体能显著抑制Huh-7细胞HBsAg和HBeAg分泌,并且其抑制效果能够维持2-3周时间。Real-time PCR证实HBV的DNA与mRNA水平分别降低了71%和80%,而对照siRNA及空载体则无此作用。【结论】成功构建了靶向HBV的小环RNA干扰载体,并且其能稳定、高效、特异地抑制HBV基因的表达与复制,该研究不仅对探索HBV的基因治疗提供了重要线索,而且为RNA干扰的应用提供了新的运载体系。     

Bile acids reduce SR-BI expression in hepatocytes by a pathway involving FXR/RXR, SHP, and LRH-1

Hepatic SR-BI mediates uptake of circulating cholesterol into liver hepatocytes where a part of the cholesterol is metabolised to bile acids. In the hepatocytes, bile acids reduce their own synthesis by a negative feedback loop to prevent toxic high levels of bile acids. Bile acid-activated FXR/RXR represses expression of CYP7A1, the rate-limiting enzyme during bile acid synthesis, by inducing the expression of SHP, which inhibits LXR/RXR and LRH-1-transactivation of CYP7A1. The present paper presents data indicating that CDCA suppresses SR-BI expression by the same pathway. As previously reported, LRH-1 induces SR-BI promoter activity. Here we show that CDCA or over-expression of SHP inhibit this transactivation. No FXR-response element was identified in the bile acid-responsive region of the SR-BI promoter (-1200bp/-937bp). However, a binding site for LRH-1 was characterised and shown to specifically bind LRH-1. The present study shows that also the SR-BI-mediated supply of cholesterol, the substrate for bile acid synthesis, is feedback regulated by bile acids.     

Mechanisms for inhibition of hepatitis B virus gene expression and replication by hepatitis C virus core protein

We have demonstrated previously that the core protein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) exhibits suppression activity on gene expression and replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV). Here we further elucidated the suppression mechanism of HCV core protein. We demonstrated that HCV core protein retained the inhibitory effect on HBV gene expression and replication when expressed as part of the full length of HCV polyprotein. Based on the substitution mutational analysis, our results suggested that mutation introduced into the bipartite nuclear localization signal of the HCV core protein resulted in the cytoplasmic localization of core protein but did not affect its suppression ability on HBV gene expression. Mutational studies also indicated that almost all dibasic residue mutations within the N-terminal 101-amino acid segment of the HCV core protein (except Arg(39)-Arg(40)) impaired the suppression activity on HBV replication but not HBV gene expression. The integrity of Arg residues at positions 101, 113, 114, and 115 was found to be essential for both suppressive effects, whereas the Arg residue at position 104 was important only in the suppression of HBV gene expression. Moreover, our results indicated that the suppression on HBV gene expression was mediated through the direct interaction of HCV core protein with the trans-activator HBx protein, whereas the suppression of HBV replication involved the complex formation between HBV polymerase (pol) and the HCV core protein, resulting in the structural incompetence for the HBV pol to bind the package signal and consequently abolished the formation of the HBV virion. Altogether, this study suggests that these two suppression effects on HBV elicited by the HCV core protein likely depend on different structural context but not on nuclear localization of the core protein, and the two effects can be decoupled as revealed by its differential targets (HBx or HBV pol) on these two processes of the HBV life cycle.     

The role of hepatitis B virus x gene in development of primary hepatocellular carcinoma

Primary hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of the most common cancers occurring in human, and there is strong epidemiological evidence suggesting that persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is the most important risk factor for its development. HBx gene was found to be a transactivator recently. Its continuous expression in hepatocytes may transactivate cellular genes which can play a certain role in development of HCC. The HBx gene fragment was used to construct a recombinant eukaryotic expression vector pCEP4 and introduced into HepG2 cells. The effect of HBx gene on HCC cells growth and its molecular mechanism in HCC cells regulation were investigated.