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Journal of Virology, January 2001, p. 143-150, Vol. 75, No. 1
Mikrobiologie and Zentrum für
Molekulare Biologie, Universität Heidelberg, 69120 Heidelberg,
Germany
Received 23 June 2000/Accepted 3 October 2000
Entry of duck hepatitis B virus (DHBV) is initiated by specific
interaction of its large envelope protein (L) with a cellular entry
receptor, recently identified as carboxypeptidase D (CPD; historically
gp180). In this report, we present evidence demonstrating that this
receptor is down-regulated as a result of DHBV infection: (i) receptor
levels determined by Western blot were much reduced in DHBV-infected
duck livers and undetectable by immunostaining in infected cultured
hepatocytes; (ii) results from metabolic labeling experiments indicate
enhanced receptor protein turnover; (iii) the kinetics of receptor loss
from newly infected cells correlated with the accumulation of newly
synthesized viral protein; (iv) expression of DHBV L protein,
transduced from a recombinant adenovirus, was sufficient to eliminate
gp180/CPD from the Golgi compartment, its normal predominant location;
(v) gp180/CPD remained absent from the Golgi compartment in infected
hepatocytes, even after overexpression from a recombinant adenovirus,
while residual amounts subsequently became detectable in a perinuclear
compartment, containing DHBV L protein; (vi) expression of DHBV L
protein in a HepG2 cell line, stably expressing gp180/CPD, leads to
incomplete receptor maturation and induces its degradation. Taken
together, these data are consistent with a model in which the virus
receptor interacts early in the biosynthetic pathway with the viral L
protein, leading to its retention in a pre-Golgi compartment and to
subsequent degradation, thus preventing receptor interference with the
export of DHBV via the secretory pathway which it shares with its
receptor. Accordingly, and analogously with receptor down-regulation in retroviral systems, DHBV receptor down-modulation may account for the
much-reduced efficiency of DHBV superinfection of preinfected hepatocytes.
0022-538X/01/$04.00+0 DOI: 10.1128/JVI.75.1.143-150.2001
Copyright © 2001, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Envelope Protein-Mediated Down-Regulation of
Hepatitis B Virus Receptor in Infected Hepatocytes

*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: ZMBH, University
of Heidelberg, Im Neuenheimer Feld 282, 69120 Heidelberg, Germany. Phone: 49 6221 546885. Fax: 49 6221 545893. E-mail:
hshd{at}zmbh.uni-heidelberg.de
Present address: Department of Biochemistry, Swiss Federal
Institute of Technology, 8092 Zürich, Switzerland.
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