Hypermutations in hepatitis B virus (HBV) DNA by APOBEC3 cytidine deaminases have been detected in vitro and in vivo, and APOBEC3G (A3G) and APOBEC3F (A3F) have been shown to inhibit the replication of HBV in vitro, but the presumably low or even absent hepatic expression of these enzymes has raised the question as to their physiological impact on HBV replication. We show that normal human liver expresses the mRNAs of APOBEC3B (A3B), APOBEC3C (A3C), A3F, and A3G. In primary human hepatocytes, interferon alpha (IFN-␣) stimulated the expression of these cytidine deaminases up to 14-fold, and the mRNAs of A3G, A3F, and A3B reached expression levels of 10%, 3%, and 3%, respectively, relative to GAPDH mRNA abundance. On transfection, the full-length protein A3B L inhibited HBV replication in vitro as efficiently as A3G or A3F, whereas the truncated splice variant A3B S and A3C had no effect. A3B L and A3B S were detected predominantly in the nucleus of uninfected cells; however, in HBV-expressing cells both proteins were found also in the cytoplasm and were associated with HBV viral particles, similarly to A3G and A3F. T he hepatitis B virus (HBV) infects more than 350 million people worldwide and is a leading cause of end-stage liver disease and of hepatocellular carcinoma. 1 HBV is non-cytopathic for hepatocytes; however, most newly HBV infected adult patients develop acute hepatitis because of a strong immune response that clears HBV from the liver, whereas approximately 5% of newly HBV-infected adult patients generate insufficient immunity and become chronically infected. 1,2 Administration of interferon alpha (IFN-␣) is a mainstay of therapy for chronically HBV-infected patients. 2 Interferons restrict the replication of HBV by inducing the expression of antiviral proteins that inhibit the formation of replication-competent HBV nucleocapsids, and ultimately can result in the resolution of the chronic HBV infection. 2-7 HBV and other hepadnaviruses replicate their partially double-stranded DNA genome within cytoplasmic core particles by reverse transcription of encapsidated pregenomic RNA and thus are related to retroviruses. 8,9 The cytidine deaminase APOBEC3G (A3G), which is encoded within a cluster of seven related editing enzymes (APOBEC3A-G) on chromosome 22, provides broad innate immunity against exogenous and endogenous retroelements. 10-16 Encapsidated into the retroviral particle A3G deaminates dCs of the retroviral minus strand

While pathophysiology of elevated cytokines is well delineated, reference values for children are unknown, although they may vary physiologically with age and differ from those of adults. Between June and November 2001, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-10 and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) concentrations from blood samples of 79 healthy children in six different age groups (group I: 0-3 months; group II: 4-12 months; group III: 13-24 months; group IV: 25-36 months; group V: 37-48 months; group VI: 49-60 months) were measured with ELISA. TNF-alpha was within 2.2-3.5 pg/ml in all groups with a trend toward higher values in groups II and III (p = ns). IL-6 was significantly lower in group III than in groups IV (p = 0.0165) and VI (p = 0.0147). IL-10 was within 3.3-5.5 pg/ml in all groups (p = ns). In regression analysis no correlation between age and cytokine concentrations was found. Although not statistically significant, IL-6 was lower and TNF-alpha higher than the adult reference values provided by the kit manufacturer. Although reference cytokine levels seem not age-related during early infancy, IL-6 is significantly lower during the second year of life than later. In infants aged 5 years or younger, reference levels of IL-6 should be chosen lower, and those of TNF-alpha higher, than the adult reference values.

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Apheresis and prolonged storage of A1 group PCs independently led to overexpression of A antigen on the PLT surface. This may make such PCs more susceptible to destruction by anti-A of O or B group recipients.