Demethylation by 5-azacytidine results in the expression of hepatitis B virus surface antigen in transgenic mice |
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| Authors: | K Araki J Miyazaki T Tsurimoto T Inomoto T Iwanaga K Matsubara K Yamamura |
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| Affiliation: | Institute for Medical Genetics, Kumamoto University Medical School. |
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| Abstract: | In 14p3HB transgenic mice, which carry three tandem copies of hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA, the HBV DNA was significantly methylated and no viral proteins were produced. To analyze the causal relationship between hypermethylation and gene inactivity, 5-azacytidine was injected into the mice to demethylate HBV DNA. When postnatal 14p3HB mice were treated with the drug, hepatitis virus surface antigen was produced in these mice by 3 weeks of age, and the integrated HBV DNA of the liver was less heavily methylated. Our results suggest that injection of 5-azacytidine can be used to efficiently activate a silent transgene such as HBV DNA in transgenic mice. |
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