Effect of autophagy on expression of interferon in hepatitis B virus-infected hepatocytes

Abstract:

Abstract:［Object］ Autophagy is a lysosomal degradation pathway in which eukaryotic cells dispose intracellular aggregates or defective organelles to maintain cellular homeostasis． Autophagy not only plays a key role in the growth，development，mature and differentiation of cells，but also is associated with pathogenesis，virus infection and immunity．To clarify the mechanism of Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and cell immune response，we investigated the relationship between autophagy and IFN factors in the HBV infected cells． ［Methods］ We inhibited the autophagy by the RNA interference knockdown of Beclin1 and Atg7，the essential autophagic genes，examined the number of autophagosomes by fluorescence microscopy and examined the expression of interferon factors by Real-Time PCR． ［Results］Autophagy was inhibited after transfected siBeclin1 or siAtg7. After inhibiting the autophagy，the expression of interferon factors were decreased，but cell apoptosis was not induced． ［Conclusion］ When the autophagy was inhibited，interferon signaling pathways were impaired in the HBV infected cells． The finding indicated that HBV induced-autophagy enhanced the interferon signaling pathways，and then increased the native immune response．