[Study on PHSAr gene expression of HBV in normal human hepatocytes]

Based on the sequence of Hepatitis B Virus (type adr) (HBV) Pre S2 region, we synthesized a pair of PCR primers. After a test of specificity, the primers were employed to amplify the postulated transcripts of PHSAr gene in the liver samples of 3 normal human subjects. By RT-PCR and RNA-PCR, all amplification results were positive, while those from corresponding skeleton muscle controls were negative. It suggests that HBV Pre S2 region should be to some extent homologous to PHSAr gene exon(s). It also indicates that PHSAr gene is in expression at transcriptional level, but not in expression in tissues (e.g. skeleton muscle) un susceptible to HBV infection. Our data further confirm the role of PHSAr in HBV infection of hepatocytes, compared with those from membrane receptor researches.