Editorial
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2015. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Virology. May 12, 2015; 4(2): 36-41
Published online May 12, 2015. doi: 10.5501/wjv.v4.i2.36
Molecular interactions between hepatitis B virus and delta virus
Elham Shirvani-Dastgerdi, Frank Tacke
Elham Shirvani-Dastgerdi, Frank Tacke, Department of Medicine III, University Hospital Aachen, 52074 Aachen, Germany
Author contributions: Shirvani-Dastgerdi E and Tacke F wrote this editorial.
Supported by The German Research Foundation (DFG Ta434/2-1 and SFB/TRR57); and by the Interdisciplinary Center for Clinical Research (IZKF) Aachen.
Conflict-of-interest: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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: Frank Tacke, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine III, RWTH-University Hospital Aachen, Pauwelsstrasse 30, 52074 Aachen, Germany. frank.tacke@gmx.net
Telephone: +49-241-8035848 Fax: +49-241-8082455
Received: January 13, 2015
Peer-review started: January 15, 2015
First decision: February 7, 2015
Revised: February 12, 2015
Accepted: March 5, 2015
Article in press: March 9, 2015
Published online: May 12, 2015
Abstract

As a deficient virus due to the lack of envelope proteins, hepatitis D virus (HDV) causes chronic or fulminant “delta hepatitis” only in people with simultaneous hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. HBV encodes three types of surface proteins known as small (S), medium (M) and large (L) envelope proteins. All three types of HBV surface antigens (HBsAgs) are present on HDV virions. The envelopment process of HDV occurs through interactions between the HDV ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complex and HBV HBsAgs. While HBsAg is the only protein required by HDV, the exact interaction sites between the S protein and pre-mature HDV are not well defined yet. In fact, these sites are distributed along the S protein with some hot spots for the envelopment process. Moreover, in most clinically studied samples, HDV infection is associated with a dramatically reduced HBV viral load, temporarily or permanently, while HBsAg resources are available for HDV packaging. Thus, beyond interacting with HBV envelope proteins, controlling mechanisms exist by which HDV inhibits HBV-DNA replication while allowing a selective transcription of HBV proteins. Here we discuss the molecular interaction sites between HBsAg and the HDV-RNP complex and address the proposed indirect mechanisms, which are employed by HBV and HDV to facilitate or inhibit each other’s viral replication. Understanding molecular interactions between HBV and HDV may help to design novel therapeutic strategies for delta hepatitis.

Keywords: Viral hepatitis, Hepatitis B virus, Hepatitis D virus, Hepatitis B virus surface antigens, Hepatitis D virus antigen, Ag loop, Liver cirrhosis

Core tip: Hepatitis D virus (HDV) causes accelerated liver disease in form of fulminant or chronic hepatitis in patients with hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. HBV supports HDV replication by sharing its surface proteins. Even without overt HBV-DNA replication, transcription of HBV surface proteins (HBsAgs) remains stable in HDV infected cells, which is essential for assembly of HDV virions containing HBsAg proteins. HDV replication is oftentimes associated with a suppression of HBV-DNA levels, and several mechanisms have been suggested how HBV or HDV may influence each other’s replication. Understanding molecular interactions between HBV and HDV may help to design novel therapeutic strategies.