Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) persists in infected hepatocytes as an episomal covalently-closed-circular DNA mini-chromosome, called cccDNA. As the main nuclear transcription template, HBV cccDNA is a key replication intermediate in the viral life cycle. Little is known about the mechanisms involved in its formation, maintenance and fate under antiviral therapies. This is mainly due to the lack of small immune-competent animal models able to recapitulate the entire HBV replication cycle, including formation of HBV cccDNA. Here we report that HBV cccDNA can be detected by Southern blot analyses in the liver of C57BL6 mice transduced with AAV-HBV. HBV cccDNA persists in the liver of these animals together with the AAV-HBV episome. We also set up a PCR strategy to distinguish the HBV cccDNA from the AAV-HBV episome. These suggest that the AAV-HBV/mouse model might be relevant to test drugs targeting HBV cccDNA regulation and persistence.

乙型肝炎病毒（HBV）持续存在于被感染的肝细胞中，为游离的共价闭合的环状DNA微型染色体，称为cccDNA。作为主要的核转录模板，HBV cccDNA是病毒生命周期中的关键复制中间体。关于在抗病毒疗法下其形成，维持和命运所涉及的机制知之甚少。这主要是由于缺乏能够概括整个HBV复制周期（包括HBV cccDNA形成）的具有免疫功能的小型动物模型。在这里，我们报告说，可以通过Southern印迹分析在AAV-HBV转导的C57BL6小鼠肝脏中检测到HBV cccDNA。HBV cccDNA与AAV-HBV附加体一起存在于这些动物的肝脏中。我们还建立了一种PCR策略，以区分AAV-HBV附加体中的HBV cccDNA。