The Effects of the Hepatitis B Virus e Antigen on Macrophages and Lymphocytes

• Main Authors: Ron An-Jung Chen, 陳安嶸
• Other Authors: Cheng-po Hu
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2000
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/47356141350290034869

碩士 === 國立陽明大學 === 微生物暨免疫學研究所 === 88 === Hepatitis B virus (HBV) causes acute and chronic necroinflammatory liver diseases. Chronically infected patients with active liver diseases carry a high risk of developing liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. The epidemiological studies indicate that the more than 90% of babies born to HBeAg positive mothers become HBV carrier. Using dual-flow cytometric analysis for the binding assay, HBeAg could bind to human and murine macrophages and B lymphocytes, but not T lymphocytes. To prove the binding specificity of HBeAg on macrophages, a mouse macrophage cell line, RAW 264.7, was used for the binding of 125I-HBeAg. From the Scatchard plot analysis, two kinds of receptors for HBeAg with the Kd’s of 8x10-10 M and 1x10-6 M, respectively, were identified on RAW 264.7 cells. There were 8x104 high-affinity receptors and 6x107 low-affinity receptors for HBeAg on each cell. We further found that HBeAg induced actin reorganization, inhibited the growth and enhanced the expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) in RAW 264.7 cells. In addition, HBeAg induced the production of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in murine peritoneal exudate cells (PEC). Our findings suggest that the specific binding of HBeAg on macrophages may modulate the function of macrophages and the host immune system.