Hepatitis B virus (HBV) entry has been analyzed using infection-susceptible cells, including primary human hepatocytes, primary tupaia hepatocytes, and HepaRG cells. Recently, the sodium taurocholate cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP) membrane transporter was reported as an HBV entry receptor. In this study, we established a strain of HepG2 cells engineered to overexpress the human NTCP gene (HepG2-hNTCP-C4 cells). HepG2-hNTCP-C4 cells were shown to be susceptible to infection by blood-borne and cell culture-derived HBV. HBV infection was facilitated by pretreating cells with 3% dimethyl sulfoxide permitting nearly 50% of the cells to be infected with HBV. Knockdown analysis suggested that HBV infection of HepG2-hNTCP-C4 cells was mediated by NTCP. HBV infection was blocked by an anti-HBV surface protein neutralizing antibody, by compounds known to inhibit NTCP transporter activity, and by cyclosporin A and its derivatives. The infection assay suggested that cyclosporin B was a more potent inhibitor of HBV entry than was cyclosporin A. Further chemical screening identified oxysterols, oxidized derivatives of cholesterol, as inhibitors of HBV infection. Thus, the HepG2-hNTCP-C4 cell line established in this study is a useful tool for the identification of inhibitors of HBV infection as well as for the analysis of the molecular mechanisms of HBV infection.

Virus infection is restricted by intracellular immune responses in host cells, and this is typically modulated by stimulation of cytokines. The cytokines and host factors that determine the host cell restriction against hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection are not well understood. We screened 36 cytokines and chemokines to determine which were able to reduce the susceptibility of HepaRG cells to HBV infection. Here, we found that pretreatment with IL-1β and TNFα remarkably reduced the host cell susceptibility to HBV infection. This effect was mediated by activation of the NF-κB signaling pathway. A cytidine deaminase, activation-induced cytidine deaminase (AID), was up-regulated by both IL-1β and TNFα in a variety of hepatocyte cell lines and primary human hepatocytes. Another deaminase APOBEC3G was not induced by these proinflammatory cytokines. Knockdown of AID expression impaired the anti-HBV effect of IL-1β, and overexpression of AID antagonized HBV infection, suggesting that AID was one of the responsible factors for the anti-HBV activity of IL-1/TNFα. Although AID induced hypermutation of HBV DNA, this activity was dispensable for the anti-HBV activity. The antiviral effect of IL-1/TNFα was also observed on different HBV genotypes but not on hepatitis C virus. These results demonstrate that proinflammatory cytokines IL-1/TNFα trigger a novel antiviral mechanism involving AID to regulate host cell permissiveness to HBV infection.

Glycyrrhizin (GL) has been used in Japan to treat patients with chronic viral hepatitis, as an anti-inflammatory drug to reduce serum alanine aminotransferase levels. GL is also known to exhibit various biological activities, including anti-viral effects, but the anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) effect of GL remains to be clarified. In this study, we demonstrated that GL treatment of HCV-infected Huh7 cells caused a reduction of infectious HCV production using cell culture-produced HCV (HCVcc). To determine the target step in the HCV lifecycle of GL, we used HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp), replicon, and HCVcc systems. Significant suppressions of viral entry and replication steps were not observed. Interestingly, extracellular infectivity was decreased, and intracellular infectivity was increased. By immunofluorescence and electron microscopic analysis of GL treated cells, HCV core antigens and electron-dense particles had accumulated on endoplasmic reticulum attached to lipid droplet (LD), respectively, which is thought to act as platforms for HCV assembly. Furthermore, the amount of HCV core antigen in LD fraction increased. Taken together, these results suggest that GL inhibits release of infectious HCV particles. GL is known to have an inhibitory effect on phospholipase A2 (PLA2). We found that group 1B PLA2 (PLA2G1B) inhibitor also decreased HCV release, suggesting that suppression of virus release by GL treatment may be due to its inhibitory effect on PLA2G1B. Finally, we demonstrated that combination treatment with GL augmented IFN-induced reduction of virus in the HCVcc system. GL is identified as a novel anti-HCV agent that targets infectious virus particle release.

Previous reports assumed that sphingomyelin (SM) is essential for HCV replication, but the mechanism was unclear. In this study, we showed for the first time that SM and ceramide transfer protein (CERT), which is in the SM biosynthesis pathway, are essential for the biosynthesis of double-membrane vesicles (DMVs), the sites of viral replication. Low numbers of DMVs were observed in CERT-KO cells transfected with replicon RNA or with constructs that drive HCV protein production in a replication-independent system. HCV replication was rescued by ectopic expression of the CERT protein, but not by CERT mutants, that abolishes the binding of CERT to vesicle-associated membrane protein-associated protein (VAP) or phosphatidylinositol 4-phosphate (PI4P), indicating new roles for VAP and PI4P in HCV replication. The biosynthesis of DMVs has great importance to replication by a variety of plus-stranded RNA viruses. Understanding of this process is expected to facilitate the development of diagnosis and antivirus.

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is mediated by a specific interaction with sodium taurocholate-cotransporting polypeptide (NTCP), a viral entry receptor. Although the virus-receptor interactions are believed to trigger viral internalization into host cells, the exact molecular mechanisms of HBV internalization are not understood.

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) NS4B protein induces the formation of a membranous web (MW) structure that provides a platform for the assembly of viral replication complexes. The main constituents of the MW are double-membrane vesicles (DMVs). Here, we found that the cellular protein Surf4, which maintains endoplasmic reticulum (ER)-Golgi intermediate compartments and the Golgi compartment, is recruited into HCV RNA replication complexes by NS4B and is involved in the formation of DMVs. Moreover, Surf4 participates in the replication of poliovirus, which uses DMVs as replication sites, but has no effect on the replication of dengue virus, which uses invaginated vesicles as replication sites. These results indicate that the cellular protein Surf4 is involved in the replication of positive-strand RNA viruses that use DMVs as RNA replication sites, providing new insights into DMV formation during virus replication and potential targets for the diagnosis and treatment of positive-strand RNA viruses.