A preliminary study on expression and significance of Pre-S1 protein in liver tissue of patients with HBV infection

Abstract

Rabbit antiserum to Pre-S1 protein was used to establish peroxidaseantiperoxidase (PAP) and avidin-biotin-peroxidase complex (ABC) immunohistochemical techniques for detection of Pre-S1 protein in paraffin-embedded liver tissue. Pre-S1 protein could be expressed in hepatocyte cytoplasm and on membrane in some cases with chronic viral hepatitis, cinhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), and its expression was intimately associated with HBsAg, HBcAg in liver and HBV DNA in serum, indicating that pre-S1 protein may represent the essential component of hepatitis B virus (HBV) and also serve as one of the markers of HBV infection. The incidence of Pre-S1 piotein was slightly lower in nontumotous liver of HCC than in other cases and Pie-S1 piotein could not be detected in tumorous tissue of HCC suggesting that expression of pre-Sl protein may be suppressed in HCC cases.

Keywords

HBV / HBsAg / HBcAg / Pre-S₁ protein / HBV / DNA