Research areas: Molecular Virology, Viral and cellular factors involved in RNA virus tropism and pathogenicity

Human hepatitis D virus (HDV) is a small defective RNA-virus that is dependent on the presence of hepatitis B virus (HBV) as a helper virus in coinfected patients. Both viruses infect hepatocytes within the liver via blood and sexual contacts and can cause acute and chronic liver disease resulting in liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Worldwide, at least 12 million people are chronically infected with HDV with limited therapeutic options available. The completion of the full HDV replication cycle is dependent on a helper virus and cellular host factors within co-infected hepatocytes. Since HDV uses HBV surface proteins (HBsAg) for envelopment, budding and secretion of virions into the blood, both viruses are supposed to use comparable entry pathways for infection. The liver-specific bile acid transporter (NTCP) was discovered in 2012 as high-affinity HBV/HDV receptor and was first confirmed to be essential for HDV infection in 2013 by the principal investigators of this proposal. Our establishment of highly susceptible human hepatoma cells stably expressing NTCP at physiological levels enabled us to study viral binding, entry and replication of HDV and HBV at the cellular level. In addition to NTCP, other cellular cofactors appear to be involved in the quantitative regulation of virus entry via NTCP, but these have not yet been fully identified and characterized. Recently, interaction of HDV with envelope proteins of other coinfecting hepatotropic viruses, e.g. hepatitis C virus (HCV), has been demonstrated, suggesting that HDV might alter its infection pattern by switching viral surface proteins. Besides human HDV, HDV-like viruses have recently been found in other vertebrates (e.g. snakes, birds). In this context, we have isolated the first non-human mammalian HDV isolate from rodents, which is closely related to human HDV with robust replication in human liver cells, but its replication pattern has not yet been characterized. During the next funding period, we will (i) identify and analyze cellular NTCP cofactors defining viral binding and entry, (ii) characterize structural determinants of the overlapping virus/substrate binding domains of NTCP, (iii) compare replication of HDV with phylogenetically related animal HDV, and (iv) analyze determinants of HDV packaging upon coinfection with other hepatotropic viruses (HBV/HCV).

Project-related publications of the investigators:

• Rasche A, Lehmann F, Goldmann N, Nagel M, Moreira-Soto A, Nobach D, de Oliveira Carneiro I, Osterrieder N, Greenwood AD, Steinmann E, Lukashev AN, Schuler G, Glebe D, Drexler JF, Equid HBVC. 2021. A hepatitis B virus causes chronic infections in equids worldwide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 118.
• Pfluger LS, Norz D, Volz T, Giersch K, Giese A, Goldmann N, Glebe D, Bockmann JH, Pfefferle S, Dandri M, Schulze Zur Wiesch J, Lutgehetmann M. 2021. Clinical establishment of a laboratory developed quantitative HDV PCR assay on the cobas6800 high-throughput system. JHEP Rep 3:100356.
• Pfefferkorn M, Schott T, Bohm S, Deichsel D, Felkel C, Gerlich WH, Glebe D, Wat C, Pavlovic V, Heyne R, Berg T, van Bommel F. 2021. Composition of HBsAg is predictive of HBsAg loss during treatment in patients with HBeAg-positive chronic hepatitis B. J Hepatol 74:283-292.
• Palatini M, Muller SF, Lowjaga K, Noppes S, Alber J, Lehmann F, Goldmann N, Glebe D, Geyer J. 2021. Mutational Analysis of the GXXXG/A Motifs in the Human Na(+)/Taurocholate Co-Transporting Polypeptide NTCP on Its Bile Acid Transport Function and Hepatitis B/D Virus Receptor Function. Front Mol Biosci 8:699443.
• Lowjaga K, Kirstgen M, Muller SF, Goldmann N, Lehmann F, Glebe D, Geyer J. 2021. Long-term trans-inhibition of the hepatitis B and D virus receptor NTCP by taurolithocholic acid. Am J Physiol Gastrointest Liver Physiol 320:G66-G80.
• Kirstgen M, Muller SF, Lowjaga K, Goldmann N, Lehmann F, Alakurtti S, Yli-Kauhaluoma J, Baringhaus KH, Krieg R, Glebe D, Geyer J. 2021. Identification of Novel HBV/HDV Entry Inhibitors by Pharmacophore- and QSAR-Guided Virtual Screening. Viruses 13.
• Kirstgen M, Lowjaga K, Muller SF, Goldmann N, Lehmann F, Glebe D, Baringhaus KH, Geyer J. 2021. Hepatitis D Virus Entry Inhibitors Based on Repurposing Intestinal Bile Acid Reabsorption Inhibitors. Viruses 13.
• Grosser G, Muller SF, Kirstgen M, Doring B, Geyer J. 2021. Substrate Specificities and Inhibition Pattern of the Solute Carrier Family 10 Members NTCP, ASBT and SOAT. Front Mol Biosci 8:689757.
• Glebe D, Goldmann N, Lauber C, Seitz S. 2021. HBV evolution and genetic variability: Impact on prevention, treatment and development of antivirals. Antiviral Res 186:104973.
• Paraskevopoulou S, Pirzer F, Goldmann N, Schmid J, Corman VM, Gottula LT, Schroeder S, Rasche A, Muth D, Drexler JF, Heni AC, Eibner GJ, Page RA, Jones TC, Muller MA, Sommer S, Glebe D, Drosten C. 2020. Mammalian deltavirus without hepadnavirus coinfection in the neotropical rodent Proechimys semispinosus. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 117:17977-17983.
• Kirstgen M, Lowjaga K, Muller SF, Goldmann N, Lehmann F, Alakurtti S, Yli-Kauhaluoma J, Glebe D, Geyer J. 2020. Selective hepatitis B and D virus entry inhibitors from the group of pentacyclic lupane-type betulin-derived triterpenoids. Sci Rep 10:21772.
• Jensen O, Ansari S, Gebauer L, Muller SF, Lowjaga K, Geyer J, Tzvetkov MV, Brockmoller J. 2020. A double-Flp-in method for stable overexpression of two genes. Sci Rep 10:14018.
• Rasche A, Lehmann F, Konig A, Goldmann N, Corman VM, Moreira-Soto A, Geipel A, van Riel D, Vakulenko YA, Sander AL, Niekamp H, Kepper R, Schlegel M, Akoua-Koffi C, Souza B, Sahr F, Olayemi A, Schulze V, Petraityte-Burneikiene R, Kazaks A, Lowjaga K, Geyer J, Kuiken T, Drosten C, Lukashev AN, Fichet-Calvet E, Ulrich RG, Glebe D, Drexler JF. 2019. Highly diversified shrew hepatitis B viruses corroborate ancient origins and divergent infection patterns of mammalian hepadnaviruses. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 116:17007-17012.
• Noppes S, Muller SF, Bennien J, Holtemeyer M, Palatini M, Leidolf R, Alber J, Geyer J. 2019. Homo- and heterodimerization is a common feature of the solute carrier family SLC10 members. Biol Chem 400:1371-1384.
• Gerresheim GK, Bathke J, Michel AM, Andreev DE, Shalamova LA, Rossbach O, Hu P, Glebe D, Fricke M, Marz M, Goesmann A, Kiniry SJ, Baranov PV, Shatsky IN, Niepmann M. 2019. Cellular Gene Expression during Hepatitis C Virus Replication as Revealed by Ribosome Profiling. Int J Mol Sci 20.
• Pfefferkorn M, Bohm S, Schott T, Deichsel D, Bremer CM, Schroder K, Gerlich WH, Glebe D, Berg T, van Bommel F. 2018. Quantification of large and middle proteins of hepatitis B virus surface antigen (HBsAg) as a novel tool for the identification of inactive HBV carriers. Gut 67:2045-2053.
• Nielsen KO, Mirza AH, Kaur S, Jacobsen KS, Winther TN, Glebe D, Pociot F, Hogh B, Storling J. 2018. Hepatitis B virus suppresses the secretion of insulin-like growth factor binding protein 1 to facilitate anti-apoptotic IGF-1 effects in HepG2 cells. Exp Cell Res 370:399-408.
• Muller SF, Konig A, Doring B, Glebe D, Geyer J. 2018. Characterisation of the hepatitis B virus cross-species transmission pattern via Na+/taurocholate co-transporting polypeptides from 11 New World and Old World primate species. PLoS One 13:e0199200.
• de Carvalho Dominguez Souza BF, Konig A, Rasche A, de Oliveira Carneiro I, Stephan N, Corman VM, Roppert PL, Goldmann N, Kepper R, Muller SF, Volker C, de Souza AJS, Gomes-Gouvea MS, Moreira-Soto A, Stocker A, Nassal M, Franke CR, Rebello Pinho JR, Soares M, Geyer J, Lemey P, Drosten C, Netto EM, Glebe D, Drexler JF. 2018. A novel hepatitis B virus species discovered in capuchin monkeys sheds new light on the evolution of primate hepadnaviruses. J Hepatol 68:1114-1122.