Successful construction of eukaryotic plasmids containing HBV C genotype

HBV infection remains a major health problem in the world. Several data have revealed that lamivudine can efficiently promote the treatment of hepatitis B. However, a long-term treatment of lamivudine leads to the emergence of lamivudine-resistant mutants (YMDD mutants), which hampers the anti-HBV therapy. Therefore, researches related to HBV lamivudine-resistant mechanism has been of great significance. Up to date, many researches using eukaryotic plasmids containing either one type of HBV YMDD mutant or wild-type strains, without specification of HBV genotype, were reported. However, serial plasmids containing a specific HBV genotype, such as genotype C, and lamivudine-resistant sequences, which will allow systematic studies on the combined effects of HBV genotype together with lamivudine-resistant mutations, have not been reported.

A research article to be published on 21 June 2008, in the World Journal of Gastroenterology addresses this question. The research team led by Prof. Gu Hongxi from Department of Microbiology of Harbin Medical University successfully constructed the eukaryotic expression plasmidspc DNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YMDD, pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YVDD, and pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YIDD. After being transfected into HepG2 cells, these plasmids could efficiently express viral DNA and antigens of HBV genotype C wild-types, YVDD, and YIDD mutation, respectively. These results provide an experimental basis for further in vitro studies on HBV lamivudine-resistant mutants.

The successful construction of the 3 eukaryotic plasmids, pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YMDD, pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YVDD, and pcDNA3.1(+)-HBV/C-YIDD, provides an experimental basis for the establishment of stable expression system of HBV genotype C lamivudine-resistant mutants. The results may contribute to further in vitro antiviral studies of HBV genotype C lamivudine-resistant mutants, such as establishing a stable expression system of HBV genotype C lamivudine-resistant mutants, studying on the mechanism of HBV lamivudine-resistance.

Reference: Xu WZ, Fang Y, Li D, Wang Y, Shang QL, Li GQ, Teng X, Gu HX. Construction and expression of eukaryotic plasmids containing lamivudine-resistant or wild-type stains of HBV C genotype. World J Gastroenterol 2008;14 (23): 3733-3738
http://www.wjgnet.com/1007-9327/14/3733.asp

Correspondence to: Hong-Xi Gu, Department of Microbiology, Harbin Medical University, No.157, Baojian Road, Nangang District, Harbin 150081, Heilongjiang Province, China. hxgu2432@163.com
Telephone: +86-451-86685122 Fax: +86-451-86685122

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