Peking University, Nov. 16, 2012: Recently, a research group led by Doctor Li Wenhui from National Institute of Biological Sciences, Beijing (NIBS, Beijing), discovered the HBV (hepatitis B virus) receptor and their research result was published on eLife issued on November 13th. The first authors of this thesis are Yan Huan, joint training doctoral student, and postdoctoral fellow of Peking University and NIBS, Beijing .
In today’s world, over 350million people are infected with HBV, more than 15 million of whom suffer from HDV (hepatitis D virus) in the meantime. Although effective hepatitis B vaccines have been put into use, almost a million people die of related diseases every year. The surface cell receptor of HBV has remained undiscovered even if HBV was known to human being more than 40 years ago.
HBV and HDV can only infect host cells by combining with surface receptor molecules. Therefore, the discovery of such molecules will deepen people’s understanding of the process of HBV infection, providing a promising target for anti-HBV treatment.
In order to solve the problem of finding the surface receptor, the group started the research with tree shrews, establishing high-quality databases containing gene expression profiles of tree shrews’ hepatocytes. By adopting advanced purification technology and HRMS (High Resolution Mass Spectrum) analysis, they found that a protein named NTCP participates in a specific interaction with the receptor binding zone on the surface of HBV. Subsequently, they conducted a series of gene interference experiments in hepatocytes susceptible to HBV and HDV, which further proved that NTCP is the HBV receptor.
Written by: Li Chiyang
Edited by: Xu Xinyi, Zhang Jiang
Source: PKU News (Chinese)
