Nadine Assrir¹, Patrick Soussan^{2, 3, 4}, Dina Kremsdorf^{2, 3, 4}, Jean-Michel Rossignol¹

1 Universite Versailles St-Quentin, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ecole Pratiques des Hautes Etudes, UMR 8159, Laboratoire de Genetique et Biologie Cellulaire, 45 av. des Etats-Unis 78035 Versailles Cedex France, ²Inserm, U845, Paris 75015, France, ³Pasteur Institute, Department of Virology, Paris, France, ⁴University of Paris-Descartes, CHU Necker, Paris, France

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Abstract

2. The Hepatitis B virus

2.1. Virion structure, genome and genetic organization

2.2. Viral proteins

2.2.1. The envelope proteins

2.2.2. The DNA polymerase-reverse transcriptase (P protein)

2.2.3. The core protein

2.2.4. The HBx protein

2.2.5. The precore protein

2.3. Viral cycle

2.3.1. Attachment of the viral particles to the receptor, internalisation and early steps of the cycle

2.3.2. Formation of the covalently closed circular DNA and mRNA synthesis

2.3.3. Capsid formation, pregenomic RNA encapsidation and genome replication 2.3.4. Virion assembly and virion exocytose

3. Role of the viral proteins in liver apoptosis

3.1. HBx

3.1.1. HBx is a pro-apoptotic factor

3.1.2. HBx is an anti-apoptotic factor

3.2. Envelope proteins

3.2.1. The L protein

3.2.2. The M protein

3.3. HBV spliced generated protein (HBSP)

3.4. Precore protein

3.5. Other viral proteins

4. Concluding remarks

5. Acknowledgments

6. References

1. ABSTRACT