Wu Di, Liu Zihan, Song Zhe, Yu Leiyu, Guan Zhenzhen, Liu Huanfei, Zhao Jin, Jin Zhongzhen, He Xugang, Zhang Yaqing, Cao Lanxiao, Dai Guifu, Huang Jun, Kang Qiaozhen
Department of Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Zhengzhou Key Laboratory of Development and Application of Biological Resources and New Drug Creation, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
Microbiol Spectr. 2025 Jul 24:e0251324. doi: 10.1128/spectrum.02513-24.
As one of the key features of the immune active (IA) phase (HBeAg-positive) in chronic hepatitis B (CHB), liver fibrosis (LF) is a critical treatable stage to avoid progressing to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). There is an urgent need to establish mouse models that mimic CHB during this phase to clarify the mechanisms underlying hepatitis B virus (HBV) clearance and liver injury, as well as to facilitate therapy development. In the present work, we introduce a novel HBV mouse model via injections of porcine serum (PS, an immunological liver injury inducer), in combination with hydrodynamic injection of pAAV-HBV1.2 plasmid. The (pAAV-HBV1.2+PS BALB/c) mouse model we developed exhibits the typical features of the IA phase in CHB, including high/intermediate serum HBsAg levels, positive HBeAg and HBV DNA, intermittent elevation of serum alanine aminotransferase, and significant LF. Notably, despite dramatic increases in both duration and intensity of HBV viremia, PS induced definitive LF within 12 weeks only in BALB/c, not in C57BL/6J mice. The heightened functional adaptive immunity impairment, characterized by increased PD-1/PD-L1 signaling, may contribute to the improvement in HBV persistence, whereas intermittent HBV activation, followed by liver injury induced by PS injection, primarily drives LF progression. Furthermore, we validate the characteristics of this model by treating the model with entecavir (an HBV replication blocker). Consequently, we have established a novel CHB mouse model in the IA phase, which undoubtedly holds significant value for deepening our understanding of CHB progression mechanisms and evaluating corresponding therapies.IMPORTANCEHere, we constructed a novel mouse model which shows the typical features of IA phase chronic hepatitis B, including positive serum HBV-indicators (hepatitis B surface antigen, HBsAg; hepatitis B e antigen, HBeAg and HBV DNA), intermittent serum alanine aminotransferase elevation, and significant LF. This model could be a valuable platform for understanding the mechanisms associated with virus clearance, liver damage, immune tolerance, and immune activation, and for the development of therapies. The PS injections can remarkably attenuate the clearance of HBV in pAAV-HBV1.2 mice (BALB/c and C57BL/6J), but only in HBV carrier BALB/c mice induce moderate/severe LF. Impairment of adaptive immunity by PS injections accounts for the model's HBV-persistence improvement, whereas the intermittent HBV activation and immunological liver injury by each PS injection in pAAV-HBV1.2 mice are responsible for LF. Blockage of HBV replication can diminish LF progression. These findings provide new insights into the study of interactions between immune responses and the virus.
作为慢性乙型肝炎(CHB)免疫活跃(IA)期(HBeAg阳性)的关键特征之一,肝纤维化(LF)是避免进展为肝细胞癌(HCC)的关键可治疗阶段。迫切需要建立在此阶段模拟CHB的小鼠模型,以阐明乙肝病毒(HBV)清除和肝损伤的潜在机制,并促进治疗方法的开发。在本研究中,我们通过注射猪血清(PS,一种免疫性肝损伤诱导剂)并结合水动力注射pAAV-HBV1.2质粒,引入了一种新型HBV小鼠模型。我们建立的(pAAV-HBV1.2+PS BALB/c)小鼠模型表现出CHB的IA期典型特征,包括高/中度血清HBsAg水平、HBeAg和HBV DNA阳性、血清丙氨酸氨基转移酶间歇性升高以及显著的肝纤维化。值得注意的是,尽管HBV病毒血症的持续时间和强度都显著增加,但PS仅在12周内诱导BALB/c小鼠出现明确的肝纤维化,而在C57BL/6J小鼠中未出现。以PD-1/PD-L1信号增强为特征的功能性适应性免疫损伤加剧,可能有助于HBV持续感染状态的改善,而间歇性HBV激活,随后由PS注射诱导的肝损伤,主要驱动肝纤维化进展。此外,我们通过用恩替卡韦(一种HBV复制阻断剂)治疗该模型,验证了其特征。因此,我们建立了一种IA期新型CHB小鼠模型,这无疑对于加深我们对CHB进展机制的理解以及评估相应治疗方法具有重要价值。
重要性
在此,我们构建了一种新型小鼠模型,该模型表现出IA期慢性乙型肝炎的典型特征,包括血清HBV指标阳性(乙肝表面抗原,HBsAg;乙肝e抗原,HBeAg和HBV DNA)、血清丙氨酸氨基转移酶间歇性升高以及显著的肝纤维化。该模型可能是一个有价值的平台,用于理解与病毒清除、肝损伤、免疫耐受和免疫激活相关的机制,以及用于治疗方法的开发。PS注射可显著减弱pAAV-HBV1.2小鼠(BALB/c和C57BL/6J)中HBV的清除,但仅在HBV携带的BALB/c小鼠中诱导中度/重度肝纤维化。PS注射导致的适应性免疫损伤促成了该模型中HBV持续感染状态的改善,而pAAV-HBV1.2小鼠中每次PS注射引起的间歇性HBV激活和免疫性肝损伤是肝纤维化的原因。阻断HBV复制可减少肝纤维化进展。这些发现为免疫反应与病毒之间相互作用的研究提供了新的见解。