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Published on: February 1, 2017
Functional Characterization of Interferon Regulation Element of Hepatitis B virus Genome In Vivo
Feng-Jun Liu1, En-Qiang Chen, Qiao-Ling Zhou
1Center of Infectious Diseases, West China Hospital of Sichuan University, No.37 Guo Xue Xiang, Chengdu, 610041 People's Republic of China ; Division of Infectious Diseases, State Key Laboratory of Biotherapy, Sichuan University, Chengdu, 610041 People's Republic of China ; Department of Infectious Diseases, North Sichuan Medical College, Nanchong, 637000 People's Republic of China.
Abstract:
The roles of interferon regulatory element (IRE) in Hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome on inhibitory effect of interferon against HBV are controversial in vitro. This study aimed to determine the functional characterization of HBV-IRE sequence in vivo. Wild-type or IRE-mutant HBV replication-competent mice were firstly established, and mice were subquently treated with polyinosinic-polytidylin acid (polyI.C) or phosphate-buffered saline via intraperitoneal. Results showed that PolyI.C inhibited viral replication, and increased the level of 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthase mRNA transcripts, a marker of INF-α/β induction. Between wild-type and IRE-mutant HBV replication-competent mice, the levels of HBV-RNA and HBV-DNA replication intermediates were similar. After PolyI.C treatment, the decreasing of HBV-RNA was similar between two groups, but HBV-DNA replication intermediates decreased significantly less in IRE-mutant than wild-type HBV replication-competent mice. These findings suggested that IRE mutant reduced the inhibitory effect of interferon on HBV replication, which played a role in antiviral effect of interferon against HBV.
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