OBJECTIVE To study the structural and preliminary functional characterization of the hepatitis B virus(HBV) enhancer Ⅰ in patients with chronic hepatitis B treated with interferon (IFN). METHODS The characteristics of the HBV enhancer Ⅰ in 12chronic carrier who were treated with alpha interferon was detected by the methods of molecular biology including PCR, cloning of PCR products, sequencing and cell culture.RESULTS Four of 6 patients cleared viral DNA; all 6 in this group also seroconverted from e antigen to antibody. Prior to therapy, the HBV enhancer Ⅰ region demonstrated many point mutations in all 6 patients who became nonresponders, compared to patients who responded to interferon. The mutated sequences, many of which were within regions of transcription factor binding, were significantly more active than the corresponding wild type sequences in reporter gene assays. CONCLUSION These results imply that the mutations found in nonresponders appear to render the virus less sensitive to interferon.

Alternative splicing of the human glucocorticoid receptor (hGR) primary transcript produces two receptor isoforms, termed hGRα and hGRβ. hGRα is a ligand-activated transcription factor which, in the hormone-bound state, modulates the expression of glucocorticoid-responsive genes by binding to specific glucocorticoid response element (GRE) DNA sequences. In contrast, hGRβ dose not bind glucocorticoids and is transcriptionally inactive. We demonstrate here that hGRβ inhibits the hormone-induced, hGRα-mediated stimulations of gene expression, including glucocorticoid-responsive reporter gene (cat) and endogenous p21 gene. We also demonstrate that hGRβ can inhibit hGRα-mediated regulation of proliferation and differentiation of a human osteosarcoma cell line (HOS-8603). Our studies on the expression of hGR mRNA in nephrotic syndrome patients indicate that the hGRα/hGRβ mRNA ratio in peripheral white blood cell of hormone-resistant patients is lower than that of hormone-sensitive patients and health volunteers. These results indicate that hGRβ may be a physiologically and pathophysiologically relevant endogenous inhibitor of hGRα