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Journal of Virology, December 2000, p. 11754-11763, Vol. 74, No. 24
Fox Chase Cancer Center, Philadelphia,
Pennsylvania 191111; Biomedical Graduate
Studies,2 Institute for Human Gene
Therapy,3 and Department of Pathology
and Laboratory Medicine,4 University of
Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104; and Department
of Virology, Glaxo Wellcome, Inc., Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina 277095
Received 19 June 2000/Accepted 13 September 2000
Treatment of hepatitis B virus carriers with the nucleoside analog
lamivudine suppresses virus replication. However, rather than
completely eliminating the virus, long-term treatment often ends in the
outgrowth of drug-resistant variants. Using woodchucks chronically
infected with woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), we investigated the
consequences of combining lamivudine treatment with immunotherapy
mediated by an adenovirus superinfection. Eight infected
woodchucks were treated with lamivudine and four were infected with
~1013 particles of an adenovirus type 5 vector
expressing
0022-538X/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Combination Therapy with Lamivudine and Adenovirus Causes
Transient Suppression of Chronic Woodchuck Hepatitis Virus
Infections
-galactosidase. Serum samples and liver biopsies
collected following the combination therapy revealed a 10- to 20-fold
reduction in DNA replication intermediates in three of four woodchucks
at 2 weeks after adenovirus infection. At the same time, covalently
closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and viral mRNA levels both declined about
two- to threefold in those woodchucks, while mRNA levels for gamma
interferon and tumor necrosis factor alpha as well as for the T-cell
markers CD4 and CD8 were elevated about twofold. Recovery from
adenovirus infection was marked by elevation of sorbitol dehydrogenase,
a marker for hepatocyte necrosis, as well as an 8- to 10-fold increase
in expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen, a
marker for DNA synthesis, indicating significant hepatocyte turnover.
The fact that replicative DNA levels declined more than cccDNA and mRNA
levels following adenovirus infection suggests that the former decline
either was cytokine induced or reflects instability of replicative DNA
in regenerating hepatocytes. Virus titers in all four woodchucks were only transiently suppressed, suggesting that the effect of combination therapy is transient and, at least under the conditions used, does not cure chronic WHV infections.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Fox Chase Cancer
Center, 7701 Burholme Ave., Philadelphia, PA 19111. Phone: (215)
728-2402. Fax: (215) 728-3105. E-mail:
ws_mason{at}fccc.edu.
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