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An intracellular antibody can suppress tumorigenicity in Hepatitis B virus X-expressing cells

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Abstract

Although the hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) is thought to play a causative role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma, it is not yet known whether interfering with HBx function may affect the cellular transformation of HBx-expressing tumor cells. To address this question, we adopted an intracellular antibody fragment expression approach to block the function of HBx. Expression of a single-chain variable fragment (scFv) specific to HBx (designated as H7scFv) inhibited HBx-dependent cellular transactivation. Furthermore, H7scFv suppressed the growth of HBx-expressing tumor cells in both soft agar and nude mice. The suppressive effect of H7scFv on tumorigenicity appeared not to be mediated by inhibition of HBx-induced growth stimulation since the growth rate of these cells was not affected significantly by H7scFv expression. In conclusion, these data suggest that the HBx-dependent transformed phenotype is reversible and that HBx may be a good molecular target for the treatment of HBV-related tumors.

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Abbreviations

HBx:

Hepatitis B virus X

HCC:

Hepatocellular carcinoma

Ab:

Antibody

scFv:

Single chain variable fragment

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Acknowledgement

The authors thank Dr. Katsuro Koike for providing us NHBx1.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Microbiology, Ajou University School of Medicine, San 5 wonchun-dong yeongtong-gu, Suwon, 442-749, Republic of Korea

    Young-Hee Jin, Myung-Hee Kwon, Kyongmin Kim, Ho Joon Shin & Sun Park

  2. Department of Microbiology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, 134 sinchon-dong, seodaemun-gu, Seoul, 120-749, Republic of Korea

    Jeon-Soo Shin

  3. Department of Biochemistry, Ajou University School of Medicine, Suwon, Republic of Korea

    Hyeseong Cho

Authors
  1. Young-Hee Jin
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  2. Myung-Hee Kwon
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  3. Kyongmin Kim
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  4. Ho Joon Shin
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  5. Jeon-Soo Shin
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  6. Hyeseong Cho
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  7. Sun Park
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sun Park.

Additional information

This study was supported by a grant of the Korea Health 21 R&D Project, Ministry of Health& Welfare, Republic of Korea (03-PJ1-PG3-20200–0023)

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Jin, YH., Kwon, MH., Kim, K. et al. An intracellular antibody can suppress tumorigenicity in Hepatitis B virus X-expressing cells. Cancer Immunol Immunother 55, 569–578 (2006). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-005-0037-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00262-005-0037-2

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