Proteomic analysis of HepaRG cells: a novel cell line that supports hepatitis B virus infection.
Narayan R., Gangadharan B., Hantz O., Antrobus R., García A., Dwek RA., Zitzmann N.
The first proteomic characterization of the HepaRG cell line, the only cell line that is susceptible to hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection and supports a complete virus life cycle, is reported. Differential analysis of naive and HBV-infected HepaRG cells by two-dimensional gel electrophoresis revealed 19 differentially regulated features, 7 increasing and 12 decreasing with HBV infection. The proteins identified in these features were involved in various cellular pathways including apoptosis, DNA/RNA processing, and hepatocellular impairment. Similar expression changes in a number of the identified proteins have already been reported for other virus systems. Identification of these expression changes is a validation of the proteomics approach and contributes to an understanding of host cellular response to HBV infection.