A growing number of studies suggest that the hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx) enhances the protein stability of the hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α).
To exclude the potential influence of HBV infection in the association between HIF-1a and HBV-related LC, a comparison between the LC patients and HBV infected patients was also conducted, but a similar insignificant result was found.
Two polymorphisms in the HIF-1a gene (rs11549465 and rs115494657" genes_norm="3091">rs115494657) were examined in 157 hepatitis B virus (HBV)-related HCC patients and 173 healthy controls using the polymerase chain reaction-restriction fragment length polymorphism method.
HIF-1alpha expression was also found to be significantly correlated with the expression of hepatitis B virus X protein (HBx), and over-expressed HBx upregulated HIF-1alpha protein expression in vitro.
Hepatitis B virus X protein enhances transcriptional activity of hypoxia-inducible factor-1alpha through activation of mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway.