Inhibition of Hepatitis B Virus by Retroviral Vectors Expressing Antisenses PreS／S

Retroviral vector expressing antisense RNA complementary to HBV preS/S (antisenseS) was used to transduce human hepatoblastoma cell 2. 2. 15, which was trans fected with HBVDNA and can express HBV markers. The results showed that the inhibitory effects of antisensegene transfer mediated by retroviral vector antisense-S on the expression of HBV antigens appeared as early as on day 3 after transduction, reached peak level on day 5, and persisted at leastfor 11 days. The inhibitory rates of HBsAg and HBeAg in the 2. 2. 15 cells by antisense-S were71% and 27% on day 5 after transduction, and in comparison to blank or sense-S, the inhibitoryeffects of antisense-S were highly significant (P0.01 ). The viability of transduced 2. 2. 15 cellswas not affected as indicated by MTT assays. The results demonstrated that retroviral vectorscontaining antisense gene can inhibit HBV, and the antisense retroviral vectors may be potentiallyuseful for anti-HBV gene therapy.