Hepatitis B virus X protein enhances androgen receptor-responsive gene expression depending on androgen level
CM Chiu, SH Yeh, PJ Chen, TJ Kuo… - Proceedings of the …, 2007 - National Acad Sciences
CM Chiu, SH Yeh, PJ Chen, TJ Kuo, CJ Chang, PJ Chen, WJ Yang, DS Chen
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2007•National Acad SciencesPersistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk of hepatocellular carcinoma
(HCC). One intriguing feature of HBV-related HCC is the male predominance, with a male to
female ratio of 5–7: 1. This dominance has been attributed to the elevated androgen level
and the enhanced androgen receptor (AR)-mediated activity in the host. How HBV infection
and AR signaling modulate HCC is unknown. We investigated whether the HBV
nonstructural protein, X protein (HBx) could cooperate with the AR signaling pathway to …
(HCC). One intriguing feature of HBV-related HCC is the male predominance, with a male to
female ratio of 5–7: 1. This dominance has been attributed to the elevated androgen level
and the enhanced androgen receptor (AR)-mediated activity in the host. How HBV infection
and AR signaling modulate HCC is unknown. We investigated whether the HBV
nonstructural protein, X protein (HBx) could cooperate with the AR signaling pathway to …
Persistent hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is a major risk of hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). One intriguing feature of HBV-related HCC is the male predominance, with a male to female ratio of 5–7:1. This dominance has been attributed to the elevated androgen level and the enhanced androgen receptor (AR)-mediated activity in the host. How HBV infection and AR signaling modulate HCC is unknown. We investigated whether the HBV nonstructural protein, X protein (HBx) could cooperate with the AR signaling pathway to enhance carcinogenesis. We found that HBx increased the anchorage-independent colony-formation potency of AR in a nontransformed mouse hepatocyte cell line. We also found that HBx functioned as a positive transcriptional coregulator to increase AR-mediated transcriptional activity. This transcription enhancement was increased in the presence of androgen in a concentration-responsive manner, thus explaining a more prominent effect in males. HBx did not physically associate with ligand-bound AR in the nucleus, and it likely augmented AR activity by increasing the phosphorylation of AR through HBx-mediated activation of the c-Src kinase signaling pathway. Our study documents HBx as a previously undescribed class of noncellular positive coregulators for AR. The results reveal a mechanism for the vulnerability of males to microbial infections and the subsequent development of cancer.
National Acad Sciences