Adenovirus-expressed preS2 antibody inhibits hepatitis B virus infection and hepatic carcinogenesis

AIM：To investigate the inhibitory effect of hepatitis B virus （HBV） preS2 antibody （preS2Ab） against HBV in-fection and HBV-associated hepatic carcinogenesis.METHODS：An adenoviral vector carrying the full-length light and heavy chains of the HBV preS2Ab gene,Ad315-preS2Ab,was constructed.Enzyme linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA） and Western blotting analyses were used to determine the preS2Ab expres-sion levels in vitro.Immunofluorescent techniques were used to examine the binding affinity between the expressed HBV preS2Ab and HBV-positive liver cells.ELISAs were also used to determine hepatitis B surface antigen （HBsAg） levels to assess the inhibitory effect of the preS2Ab against HBV infection in L02 cells.The inhibitory effect of preS2Ab against hepatic carcinogen-esis was studied with diethylnitrosamine （DEN）-induced hepatocellular carcinomas （HCCs） in HBV transgenic mice.RESULTS：The expression of HBV preS2Ab increased with increases in the multiplicity of infection （MOI） of Ad315-preS2Ab in L02 cells,with 350.87 ± 17.37 μg/L of preS2Ab when the MOI was 100 plaque forming units （pfu）/cell.The expressed preS2Abs could recog-nize liver cells from HBV transgenic mice.ELISA results showed that L02 cells expressing preS2Ab produced less HBsAg after treatment with the serum of HBV pa-tients than parental L02 cells expressing no preS2Ab.HBV transgenic mice treated with Ad315-preS2Ab had fewer and smaller cancerous nodes after induction with DEN than mice treated with a blank Ad315 vec-tor or untreated mice.Additionally,the administration of Ad315-preS2Ab could alleviate hepatic cirrhosis and decrease the serum levels of alanine transaminase and aspartate transaminase.CONCLUSION：Adenovirus-mediated HBV preS2Ab expression could inhibit HBV infection in L02 cells,and then inhibit DEN-induced hepatocellular carcinogenesis and protect hepatic function in HBV transgenic mice.