Cytokine inhibition of the hepatitis B virus core promoter
R Romero, J E Lavine – 1 January 1996 – Hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA contains consensus elements for transactivating proteins whose binding activity in other systems is regulated by inflammatory cytokines. Because HBV replicates within an environment of provoked inflammation, we speculated that the HBV core/pregenomic promoter may be regulated by cytokines produced in response to infection. To evaluate this hypothesis, the HBV core/pregenomic (C/P) promoter and associated cis‐acting elements were placed upstream of a luciferase‐encoding plasmid.