RESUMO
Objective@#To investigate the effect of an ubiquitin-like modification NEDDylation on HBV life cycle.@*Methods@#Cells were incubated with various concentrations of MLN4924, which is a selective inhibitor of neural precursor cell-expressed developmentally down regulated 8 (NEDD8) activating enzyme (NAE), to block cellular protein NEDDylation. And a series concentration of lamivudine (LAM), an inhibitor of HBV polymerase was set as control. Then we tested HBV DNA replication, protein expression and nucleocapsids formation. Huh-7 cells were transfected with polymerase-inactivated HBV expression plasmid, then incubated with 0.1 μmol/L MLN4924 or çvehicle-DMSO. Then we tested capsids and capsid-associated RNA.@*Results@#MLN4924 inhibited HBV replication in a dose-dependent manner (0~2 μmol/L). When the concentration of MLN4924 was 0.1 μmol/L, the amount of nucleocapsids in the cells did not change significantly, however the encapsidation of HBV pregenomic RNA (pgRNA) decreased by about 47%.@*Conclusions@#NEDDylation is involved in hepatitis B virus pregenomic RNA encapsidation.