Volume 68, Issue 4, Pages 847-849 (April 2018) HBV RNA virion-like particles produced under nucleos(t)ide analogues treatment are mainly replication-deficient  Jie Wang, Qiuju Sheng, Yang Ding, Ran Chen, Xiaofeng Sun, Xiangmei Chen, Xiaoguang Dou, Fengmin Lu  Journal of Hepatology  Volume 68, Issue 4, Pages 847-849 (April 2018) DOI: 10.1016/j.jhep.2017.10.030 Copyright © 2017 European Association for the Study of the Liver Terms and Conditions

Fig. 1 Analysis on the characteristics of HBV RNA virion-like particles under NAs treatment. The levels of (A) HBsAg and (B) HBV DNA in the culture supernatant of HepG2-NTCP-tet cells infected with different amounts (multiplicity of infection) of HBV virions collected from the culture supernatant of mock and ETV-treated HepAD38 cells, respectively. dpi, days post-infection. (C) The characteristics of pgRNA in HBV RNA virion-like particles were analyzed by northern blot. (D) The region covering nt 2300-809 of HBV pgRNA was amplified by PCR and detected by agarose gel electrophoresis. 1. pre-therapy; 2. 4–8 weeks post therapy; 3. birth (discontinuation of therapy); 4. 4 weeks post discontinuation of therapy. (E) Schematic diagram of the pgRNA splicing variants detected by PCR-based direct sequencing analyses. (F) The 3′-terminal truncated pgRNAs were detected by 3′ RACE assays. The dots and boxes represent the ends of 3′-terminal truncated pgRNAs and full length pgRNAs, respectively. (G) The levels of HBV DNA and RNA in the serum of pregnant women were detected by qPCR and RT-qPCR, respectively. (**indicated p <0.01, ***indicated p <0.001, two groups of related non-parameters Wilcoxon symbols test). Dpi, days post-infection; ETV, entecavir; HBsAg, hepatitis B surface antigen; HBV, hepatitis B virus; NA, nucleos(t)ide analogue; pgRNA, pregenomic RNA; qPCR, quantitative PCR; RT-qPCR, reverse transcription quantitative PCR; RACE, 3′ rapid-amplification of cDNA ends; SP1-3, short-pgRNA species 1-3; WT, wild-type. Journal of Hepatology 2018 68, 847-849DOI: (10.1016/j.jhep.2017.10.030) Copyright © 2017 European Association for the Study of the Liver Terms and Conditions