Department of Anatomy, Graduate Institute of Biomedical Sciences, School of Medicine, Chang Gung University, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
Department of Urology, Chang Gung Memorial Hospital at Linkou, Taoyuan 333, Taiwan.
Viruses. 2024 May 21;16(6):817. doi: 10.3390/v16060817.
Hepatitis delta virus (HDV), an RNA virus with two forms of the delta antigen (HDAg), relies on hepatitis B virus (HBV) for envelope proteins essential for hepatocyte entry. Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) ranks third in global cancer deaths, yet HDV's involvement remains uncertain. Among 300 HBV-associated HCC serum samples from Taiwan's National Health Research Institutes, 2.7% (8/300) tested anti-HDV positive, with 62.7% (5/8) of these also HDV RNA positive. Genotyping revealed HDV-2 in one sample, HDV-4 in two, and two samples showed mixed HDV-2/HDV-4 infection with RNA recombination. A mixed-genotype infection revealed novel mutations at the polyadenylation signal, coinciding with the ochre termination codon for the L-HDAg. To delve deeper into the possible oncogenic properties of HDV-2, the predominant genotype in Taiwan, which was previously thought to be less associated with severe disease outcomes, an HDV-2 cDNA clone was isolated from HCC for study. It demonstrated a replication level reaching up to 74% of that observed for a widely used HDV-1 strain in transfected cultured cells. Surprisingly, both forms of HDV-2 HDAg promoted cell migration and invasion, affecting the rearrangement of actin cytoskeleton and the expression of epithelial-mesenchymal transition markers. In summary, this study underscores the prevalence of HDV-2, HDV-4, and their mixed infections in HCC, highlighting the genetic diversity in HCC as well as the potential role of both forms of the HDAg in HCC oncogenesis.
乙型肝炎病毒 (HBV) 相关肝癌 (HCC) 在全球癌症死亡中排名第三,但其发病机制仍未完全阐明。本研究对来自台湾国家卫生研究院的 300 例 HBV 相关 HCC 血清样本进行了检测,结果显示,8/300(2.7%)样本抗-HDV 阳性,其中 62.7%(5/8)样本 HDV RNA 阳性。基因分型显示 1 例为 HDV-2,2 例为 HDV-4,2 例为 HDV-2/HDV-4 混合感染并有 RNA 重组。混合基因型感染在多聚腺苷酸化信号处发现了新的突变,与 L-HDAg 的终止密码子相吻合。为了深入研究 HDV-2(台湾的主要基因型)可能具有的致癌特性,本研究从 HCC 中分离出了 HDV-2 cDNA 克隆进行研究。该克隆在转染的培养细胞中的复制水平达到了广泛使用的 HDV-1 株的 74%。令人惊讶的是,两种形式的 HDV-2 HDAg 均促进了细胞迁移和侵袭,影响了肌动蛋白细胞骨架的重排和上皮间质转化标志物的表达。综上所述,本研究强调了 HDV-2、HDV-4 及其混合感染在 HCC 中的流行,突出了 HCC 中的遗传多样性以及两种形式的 HDAg 在 HCC 致癌中的潜在作用。