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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Oct 14, 2015; 21(38): 10732-10738
Published online Oct 14, 2015. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v21.i38.10732
Molecular mechanism of hepatitis B virus X protein function in hepatocarcinogenesis
Ming Geng, Xuan Xin, Li-Quan Bi, Lu-Ting Zhou, Xiao-Hong Liu
Ming Geng, Xuan Xin, Li-Quan Bi, Lu-Ting Zhou, Xiao-Hong Liu, Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Jinan Military Command, Jinan 250031, Shandong Province, China
Author contributions: Geng M and Xin X contributed equally to this work; all authors approved the final manuscript.
Supported by National Science Foundation of China, No. 81172261.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No conflicts of interest to report.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Xiao-Hong Liu, MD, PhD, Department of Pathology, General Hospital of Jinan Military Command, Shifang Road 25, Jinan 250031, Shandong Province, China. liuxh333@126.com
Telephone: +86-531-51666857 Fax: +86-531-51666284
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 6, 2015
First decision: June 2, 2015
Revised: June 24, 2015
Accepted: September 2, 2015
Article in press: September 2, 2015
Published online: October 14, 2015
Abstract

Many factors are considered to contribute to hepatitis B virus (HBV)-associated hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), including products of HBV, HBV integration and mutation, and host susceptibility. HBV X protein (HBx) can interfere with several signaling pathways associated with cell proliferation and invasion, and HBx C-terminal truncation has been suggested to impact the development of HCC. This review focuses on the pathological functions of HBx in HBV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis. As a transactivator, HBx can affect regulatory non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), including microRNAs and long ncRNAs. HBx is also involved in epigenetic modification and DNA repair. HBx interacts with various signal-transduction pathways, such as the p53, Wnt, and nuclear factor-κB pathways. We conclude that HBx hastens the development of hepatoma.

Keywords: Hepatocellular carcinoma, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis B virus X protein, Hepatocarcinogenesis

Core tip: The mechanisms underlying hepatitis B virus (HBV)-induced malignant transformation remain ambiguous, but research has suggested that HBV X (HBx) protein has a crucial function in the pathogenesis of hepatocellular carcinoma. This review focuses on the pathological functions of HBx in HBV-induced hepatocarcinogenesis.