Researcher Zhou Gangqiao from the Institute of Radiation and Radiation Medicine of the Academy of Military Medical Sciences of the People’s Liberation Army led a number of scientific research institutions in the United Nations. From the perspectives of genetics, virology, function and molecular mechanism, it was the first time to discover an "integration factor complex" gene INTS10. Activate the body's innate immune function and play a role in inhibiting the replication of hepatitis B virus.
This research result reveals that the "integration factor complex" has a new effect of inhibiting pathogenic microorganism infection that has never been discovered before, opening up a new direction for its research. At the same time, it helps to understand the molecular mechanism of chronic hepatitis B virus infection, and provides a theoretical basis and new candidate biological targets for effective prevention and treatment. The results of this research have been published in the journal Nature Communications.
There are currently about 120 million chronic hepatitis B virus carriers in China. The prevention and treatment of chronic hepatitis B involves the national economy and people’s livelihood. In order to discover susceptibility genes or resistance genes related to chronic hepatitis B virus infection, Zhou Gangqiao’s scientific research team took the lead in collaborating with researchers from Guangxi Medical University, Nanjing Medical University, and Sun Yat-sen University to collect more than 10,000 genotypic data from 1251 patients with chronic hepatitis B virus infection and 1057 patients with hepatitis B virus infection were screened out, and the genetic differences between the two groups were systematically compared. Subsequently, these genetic differences were verified on a large scale in a total of 3905 infected persons and 3356 control individuals from 4 other regions in the country, and finally a new one related to hepatitis B virus infection was found at the position of chromosome 8p21.3. Gene region. Further functional studies have shown that the INTS10 gene in this region can activate the key molecule IRF3 in the intracellular RIG-I-like receptor pathway, and significantly promote the expression of type III interferon, and ultimately exert the function of inhibiting hepatitis B virus replication.
"Integration factor complex" is a multifunctional protein complex composed of at least 12 members, which can mediate the processing of ribonucleic acid, and then play an important role in the response to genomic damage and the occurrence and development of tumors. However, it has not been found that the members of the integration factor complex play a role in the pathogenic process of pathogenic microorganisms. Therefore, this study found for the first time that the complex has a previously unknown new function. The study of microbial infection mechanism provides a new perspective. As we all know, the immune response induced by interferon is the key to resist hepatitis B virus infection, but previous studies have mainly focused on type I and type II interferons secreted by the body's immune cells. This study found that hepatocytes can secrete type III interferon to inhibit the replication of hepatitis B virus, thus providing a new theoretical basis for type III interferon to treat chronic hepatitis B.