Hepatitis B virus pre‐S2 mutant upregulates cyclin A expression and induces nodular proliferation of hepatocytes
Hui‐Ching Wang, Wen‐Tsan Chang, Wen‐Wei Chang, Han‐Chieh Wu, Wenya Huang, Huan‐Yao Lei, Ming‐Derg Lai, Nelson Fausto, Ih‐Jen Su – 22 February 2005 – Naturally occurring mutants with a deletion in the pre‐S2 region of the large surface protein (ΔS2‐LHBs) are prevalent in serum and livers of patients with chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection associated with cirrhosis. The ΔS2‐LHBs protein is retained in the endoplasmic reticulum (ER) and may induce ER stress. One interesting observation is the consistently clustered distribution of hepatocytes expressing ΔS2‐LHBs.