Although hepatitis B virus (HBV) has been documented to cause hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), the exact role of HBV in the development of HCC remains enigmatic. Several hypotheses have been proposed to explain the potential mechanism, including insertional mutagenesis of HBV genomes and transcriptional activators of HBV gene products such as hepatitis B x protein (HBx) and truncated middle S mutants. In the past few years, we have identified two types of large HBV surface antigens (LHBs) with deletions at the pre-S1 (∆ ∆ ∆ ∆S1-LHBs) and pre-S2 (∆ ∆ ∆ ∆S2-LHBs) regions in ground glass hepatocytes. The pre-S mutant LHBs are retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and escape from immune attack. The pre-S mutants, particularly ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆S2-LHBs, are increasingly prevalent in patients with hepatitis B e antigen (HBeAg)-positive chronic HBV infection, ranging from 6% before the 3rd decade to 35% in the 6th decade. In HCC patients, the two pre-S mutants were detected in 60% of HCC patients, in the serum and in HCC tissues. Pre-S mutant LHBs can initiate ER stress to induce oxidative DNA damage and genomic instability. Furthermore, pre-S mutant LHBs can upregulate cyclooxygenase-2 and cyclin A to induce cell cycle progression and proliferation of hepatocytes. In transgenic mice, the pre-S mutants can induce dysplasia of hepatocytes and development of HCC. In a nested control study, the presence of pre-S mutants carried a high risk of developing HCC in HBV carriers. In summary, the findings we describe in this review suggest a potential role for HBV pre-S mutants in HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis, providing a model of viral carcinogenesis associated with ER stress. (Cancer Sci 2006; 97: 683-688) H epatitis B virus is recognized as a major etiological factor in the development of HCC.(1,2) Epidemiological studies have demonstrated an approximately 100-fold increase in the relative risk of HCC among HBV carriers compared to non-carriers.(3) Although the relationship between chronic HBV infection and HCC has been well established, the exact role of HBV in the pathogenesis of HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis remains to be elucidated.Hepatitis B virus is a partially double-stranded DNA virus containing a genome of 3.2 kb in size, which contains four open reading frames encoding viral polymerase, the core and e antigen, the HBx protein and the pre-S/S gene encoding the three surface antigens (i.e. the large [pre-S1 + pre-S2 + S], middle [pre-S2 + S] and small [S only] surface proteins). In chronic HBV infection, HBV DNA can be integrated into the host genome. Almost all HCC harbor single or multiple copies of integrated HBV DNA.(4,5) The integrated HBV DNA in tumors is usually rearranged and partially deleted. HBV DNA integration has been shown to be a random event and no specific cis-effect has been observed on flanking cellular genes.(6,7) Therefore, HBV DNA integration per se is not considered to be a general mechanism of HBV-related hepatocarcinogenesis. Based on the observations obtained from several isolates of human H...

Because the pathogenesis of enterovirus 71 (EV71) remains mostly ambiguous, identifying the factors that mediate viral binding and entry to host cells is indispensable to ultimately uncover the mechanisms that underlie virus infection and pathogenesis. Despite the identification of several receptors/attachment molecules for EV71, the binding, entry, and infection mechanisms of EV71 remain unclear. Herein, we employed glycoproteomic approaches to identify human nucleolin as a novel binding receptor for EV71. Glycoproteins purified by lectin chromatography from the membrane extraction of human cells were treated with sialidase, followed by immunoprecipitation with EV71 particles. Among the 16 proteins identified by tandem mass spectrometry analysis, cell surface nucleolin attracted our attention. We found that EV71 interacted directly with nucleolin via the VP1 capsid protein and that an antinucleolin antibody reduced the binding of EV71 to human cells. In addition, the knockdown of cell surface nucleolin decreased EV71 binding, infection, and production in human cells. Furthermore, the expression of human nucleolin on the cell surface of a mouse cell line increased EV71 binding and conferred EV71 infection and production in the cells. These results strongly indicate that human nucleolin can mediate EV71 binding to and infection of cells. Our findings also demonstrate that the use of glycoproteomic approaches is a reliable methodology to discover novel receptors for pathogens. IMPORTANCEOutbreaks of EV71 have been reported in Asia-Pacific countries and have caused thousands of deaths in young children during the last 2 decades. The discovery of new EV71-interacting molecules to understand the infection mechanism has become an emergent issue. Hence, this study uses glycoproteomic approaches to comprehensively investigate the EV71-interacting glycoproteins. Several EV71-interacting glycoproteins are identified, and the role of cell surface nucleolin in mediating the attachment and entry of EV71 is characterized and validated. Our findings not only indicate a novel target for uncovering the EV71 infection mechanism and anti-EV71 drug discovery but also provide a new strategy for virus receptor identification.

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