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Updated: Aug 9, 2026

Development of a Hepatitis B Virus Reporter System to Monitor the Early Stages of the Replication Cycle
Published on: February 1, 2017
[Construction and expression of EGFP controlled HBV promoters in eukaryotic cells]
Na Xie1, Xiao-yan Wang, Qiong Zhang
1Institute of Liver Diseases, Tongji Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430030, China.
Objective:
To construct four expression vectors carrying enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene under the control of different HBV promoters, and to detect and analyze their expressions in hepatoma cell lines.
Methods:
Four HBV promoters were amplified using PCR, and they were inserted into the T-vector and identified using restriction enzymes and sequencing, then cloned into the expression vector pEGFP-1. The four recombinant plasmids were transfected into human hepatoma cell line HepG2 by lipofectamine2000, and the positive cell clones were detected using fluorescence microscopy.
Results:
All target fragments were separately obtained and successfully cloned into the expression vector. The expressions of EGFP under the control of the four promoters were detected. The expressions of EGFP controlled by different promoters had some differences.
Conclusions:
Reporter gene EGFP under the control of four HBV promoters can be specifically expressed in hepatoma cell line HepG2, and different promoters give different results; this may provide another option in gene therapy of liver diseases.

