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Ultrastructural analysis of hepatitis B virus in HepG2‐transfected cells with special emphasis on subviral filament morphogenesis
Author(s) -
Roingeard Philippe,
Sureau Camille
Publication year - 1998
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.510280431
Subject(s) - golgi apparatus , hepatitis b virus , intracellular , budding , ultrastructure , virus , microbiology and biotechnology , biology , virology , protein filament , endoplasmic reticulum , anatomy , genetics
Abstract The intracellular accumulation of empty hepatitis B virus (HBV) particles of filamentous shape leads to a direct cytopathic effect in so‐called ground‐glass hepatocytes. The aim of this study was to investigate how these filaments can be structurally formed at the cellular level. By electron microscopy, we reexamined the HBV‐producer HepG2T‐14 cells, which have been described as producing a substantial amount of empty HBV filaments compared with the other forms of HBV particles. Examination of ultrathin sections of HepG2T14 cells revealed the presence of HBV virions and filaments at the periphery of extremely large intracellular cisternae, probably related to a pre‐Golgi compartment. Very long filaments appeared to be formed by a tubular budding of a long portion of the cisterna membrane. This phenomenon may be identical to that observed in the hepatocytes of HBV chronic carriers, in which the inability of the infected cell to export long HBV filamentous particles through the cellular secretion pathway seems to be at the origin of a direct cytopathic effect.