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Journal of Virology, December 2007, p. 13922-13926, Vol. 81, No. 24
0022-538X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.01517-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Molecular Biology, Okayama University Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry, and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 2-5-1, Shikata-cho, Okayama 700-8558,1 Department of Virology II, National Institute of Infectious Diseases, Toyama 1-23-1, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8640, Japan2
Received 11 July 2007/ Accepted 5 September 2007
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On the other hand, DDX3 binds to the hepatitis C virus (HCV) core protein (17, 19, 25), and DDX3 expression is deregulated in HCV-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) (7, 8). However, the biological function of DDX3 in HCV replication is still not understood. To address this issue, we first used lentivirus vector-mediated RNA interference to stably knock down DDX3 in three HuH-7-derived cell lines: O cells, harboring a replicative genome-length HCV RNA (HCV-O, genotype 1b) (13); sO cells, harboring its subgenomic replicon of HCV RNA (14); or RSc cured cells, which cell culture-generated HCV (HCVcc) (JFH1, genotype 2a) (23) could infect and effectively replicate in (M. Ikeda et al., unpublished data). Oligonucleotides with the following sense and antisense sequences were used for the cloning of short hairpin RNA (shRNA)-encoding sequences against DDX3 in the lentivirus vector: for DDX3i#3, 5'-GATCCCCGGAGGAAATTATAACTCCCTTCAAGAGAGGGAGTTATAATTTCCTCCTTTTTGGAAA-3' (sense) and 5'-AGCTTTTCCAAAAAGGAGGAAATTATAACTCCCTCTCTTGAAGGGAGTTATAATTTCCTCCGGG-3' (antisense); for DDX3i#7, 5'-GATCCCCGGTCACCCTGCCAAACAAGTTCAAGAGACTTGTTTGGCAGGGTGACCTTTTTGGAAA-3' (sense) and 5'-AGCTTTTCCAAAAAGGTCACCCTGCCAAACAAGTCTCTTGAACTTGTTTGGCAGGGTGACCGGG-3' (antisense). These oligonucleotides were annealed and subcloned into the BglII-HindIII site, downstream from an RNA polymerase III promoter of pSUPER (6). To construct pLV-DDX3i#3 and pLV-DDX3i#7, the BamHI-SalI fragments of the corresponding pSUPER plasmids were subcloned into the BamHI-SalI site of pRDI292 (5), an HIV-1-derived self-inactivating lentivirus vector containing a puromycin resistance marker allowing for the selection of transduced cells. The vesicular stomatitis virus G protein (VSV-G)-pseudotyped HIV-1-based vector system has been described previously (18). We used the second-generation packaging construct pCMV-
R8.91 (26) and the VSV-G-envelope plasmid pMDG2. The lentivirus vector particles were produced by transient transfection of 293FT cells with FuGene 6 (Roche).
Western blot analysis of the lysates demonstrated the only trace of DDX3 protein in DDX3 knockdown O cells (DDX3i#3) (Fig. 1A). In this context, the HCV core expression level was significantly decreased in the DDX3 knockdown O cells (Fig. 1A). To further confirm this finding, we examined the level of HCV RNA in these cells. We found that accumulation of genome-length HCV-O RNA was notably suppressed in DDX3 knockdown O cells (Fig. 1B). Furthermore, the efficiency of colony formation in DDX3 knockdown Oc cells (created by eliminating genome-length HCV RNA from O cells by interferon treatment) transfected with the genome-length HCV-O RNA with an adapted mutation at amino acid (aa) position 1609 in the NS3 helicase region (K1609E) (13) was also notably reduced compared with that in control cells (Fig. 1C). In contrast, highly efficient knockdown of an unrelated host factor, poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) (4), had no observable effects on HCV RNA replication, the efficiency of colony formation, or the core expression level (data not shown), suggesting that our finding was not due to a nonspecific event. Interestingly, accumulation of the subgenomic replicon RNA (HCV-sO) was also suppressed in DDX3 knockdown sO cells (Fig. 1D). Moreover, we examined the potential role of DDX3 in an HCV infection and production system (23). We found 80 to 90% reductions in the accumulation of JFH1 RNA and 82 to 94% reductions in the release of the core into the culture supernatants in DDX3 knockdown HuH-7-derived RSc cured cells at 4 days after inoculation of HCVcc (Fig. 1E to G). Thus, DDX3 seems to be required for HCV RNA replication.
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FIG. 1. Requirement of DDX3 for HCV replication. (A to D) Effect of DDX3 knockdown on HCV RNA replication. (A) Inhibition of DDX3 expression by shRNA-producing lentivirus vector. The results of Western blot analysis of cellular lysates with anti-DDX3 (ProSci), anti-HCV core (CP-9; Institute of Immunology), or an anti-ß-actin antibody (Sigma) in O cells expressing shRNA against DDX3 (DDX3i#3) as well as in O cells transduced with a control lentivirus vector (Con) are shown. (B) The level of genome-length HCV RNA was monitored by real-time LightCycler PCR (Roche). Experiments were done in duplicate, and bars represent the mean percentages of HCV RNA. (C) Efficiency of colony formation in DDX3 knockdown cells. In vitro-transcribed ON/C-5B K1609E RNA (2 µg) was transfected into the DDX3 knockdown Oc cells (DDX3i#3) or the Oc cells transduced with a control lentivirus vector (Con). G418-resistant colonies were stained with Coomassie brilliant blue at 3 weeks after electroporation of RNA. Experiments were done in duplicate, and representative results are shown. (D) The level of subgenomic replicon RNA was monitored by real-time LightCycler PCR. Experiments were done in duplicate, and bars represent the mean percentages of HCV RNA. (E to G) Effect of DDX3 knockdown on HCV infection. (E) Inhibition of DDX3 expression by shRNA-producing lentivirus vector. The results of Western blot analysis of cellular lysates with anti-DDX3 or an anti-ß-actin antibody for RSc cells expressing the shRNA DDX3i#3 or DDX3i#7 and for RSc cells transduced with a control lentivirus vector (Con) are shown. (F) The level of genome-length HCV (JFH1) RNA was monitored by real-time LightCycler PCR after inoculation of the cell culture-generated HCVcc. Results from three independent experiments are shown. (G) The levels of the HCV core in the culture supernatants were determined by an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (Mitsubishi Kagaku Bio-Clinical Laboratories). Experiments were done in duplicate, and bars represent the mean HCV core protein levels.
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TABLE 1. Primers used for construction of the HCV core-expressing plasmidsa
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FIG. 2. Interaction of the HCV core with DDX3. (A) The HCV core colocalizes with DDX3. 293FT cells cotransfected with 100 ng of pCXbsr/core(HCV-O) or pcDNA3/core(JFH1) and 200 ng of pHA-DDX3 were examined by confocal laser scanning microscopy. Cells were stained with anti-HCV core (CP-9 and CP-11 mixture) and anti-DDX3 antibodies and were then visualized with fluorescein isothiocyanate (DDX3) or Cy3 (core). Images were visualized using confocal laser scanning microscopy (LSM510; Carl Zeiss). The right panels exhibit the two-color overlay images (Merged). Colocalization is shown in yellow. (B) The core binds to DDX3. 293FT cells were cotransfected with 4 µg of pHA-DDX3 and 4 µg of pCXbsr/core(HCV-O) (wt), pcDNA3/ core(HCV-O) ( ), pcDNA3/core(JFH1) (wt), or pcDNA3/ core(JFH1) ( ). The cell lysates were immunoprecipitated with an anti-HA antibody (3F10; Roche), followed by immunoblot analysis using either anti-HA (HA-7; Sigma) or anti-HCV core antibody (CP-9 and CP-11 mixture). (C) 293FT cells transfected with 4 µg of pHA-DDX3 (H), O cells (O), or RSc cells 3 days after inoculation of HCVcc (JFH1) (J) were lysed and immunoprecipitated (IP) with 1 µg of anti-HA antibody (3F10), followed by immunoblotting with anti-HA (HA-7), anti-core (CP-9 and CP-11 mixture), or anti-HCV NS5A (no. 8926) and anti-HCV NS5B. (D) 293FT cells transfected with 4 µg of pHA-DDX3 and 4 µg of pcDNA3/FLAG-core(HCV-O) (wt), pcDNA3/FLAG- core(HCV-O) ( ), pcDNA3/FLAG-core(JFH1) (wt), or pcDNA3/FLAG- core(JFH1) ( ) were lysed and immunoprecipitated with 1 µg of an anti-HA antibody (3F10), followed by immunoblotting with an anti-HA (HA-7) or anti-core (CP-9 and CP-11 mixture) antibody.
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FIG. 3. HCV core does not affect the DDX3-mediated synergistic activation of Rev function. (A) Schematic representation of HIV-1 Rev-dependent luciferase-based reporter plasmid pDM628 harboring a splicing donor (SD), splicing acceptor (SA), and RRE. (B) 293FT cells were cotransfected with 100 ng of pDM628, 200 ng of pcRev, 200 ng of pHA-DDX3, and/or 100 ng of either pcDNA3/core(HCV-O) (O) or pcDNA3/core(JFH1) (J). A luciferase assay was performed 24 h later. All transfections utilized equal total amounts of plasmid DNA owing to the addition of the empty vector pcDNA3 to the transfection mixture. The relative stimulation of luciferase activity (n-fold) is shown. The results shown are means from three independent experiments.
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Recent studies have suggested a potential role of DDX3 and DDX5 in the pathogenesis of HCV-related liver diseases. DDX3 expression is deregulated in HCV-associated HCC (7, 8), and Huang et al. identified single-nucleotide polymorphisms in the DDX5 gene that were significantly associated with an increased risk of advanced fibrosis in patients with chronic hepatitis C (12). Interestingly, DDX3 might be a candidate tumor suppressor. DDX3 inhibits colony formation in various cell lines, including HuH-7, and up-regulates the p21waf1/cip1 promoter (8). If DDX3 could in fact suppress tumor growth, then the core might overcome DDX3-mediated cell growth arrest and down-regulate p21waf1/cip1 through interaction with DDX3, and it might also be involved in HCC development.
R8.91, pMDG2, pHA-DDX3, pDM628, pcRev, pSUPER, pRDI292, 293FT cells, pCX4bsr, and the anti-NS5B antibody. We also thank A. Morishita and T. Nakamura for technical assistance. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Young Scientists (B) from the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology (MEXT), by a Grant-in-Aid for Research on Hepatitis from the Ministry of Health, Labor, and Welfare of Japan, by the Naito Foundation, by the Ichiro Kanehara foundation, and by a research fellowship from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
Published ahead of print on 12 September 2007. ![]()
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