Our previous results indicate that HBx contains a functional nuclear export signal motif that utilizes the Ran/Crm1 complex, a component essential in nucleocytoplasmic transport of many cellular and viral proteins. We demonstrated that HBx not only uses but also disrupts Ran/Crm1-dependent activities, presumably to prevent a host antiviral response. This finding implicates the Ran/Crm1 complex in the molecular pathogenesis of HBV. Recently, we uncovered a new role of the Ran/Crm1 complex in regulating cellular proteins that control centrosome duplication and mitotic spindle assembly. We revealed nucleophosmin as a novel substrate for Ran/Crm1 to negatively regulate unnecessary centrosome duplication. In addition, we demonstrated a HBV/HBx-dependent activation of RanBP1, a Ran-binding protein that is known to destabilize the Ran/Crm1 complex. Elevated RanBP1 is also observed in HBV-positive liver tissues and in HCC. Increased expression of RanBP1 leads to multipolar spindles and abnormal mitoses. Thus, the combined effects of HBV/HBx contribute to chromosome instability. These findings led us to generate a new hypothesis in which the Ran/Crm1 complex serves as the centrosome duplication checkpoint by providing a loading dock mechanism that controls cellular homeostasis, and the disruption of this complex may result in genomic instability, which may be an early step in viral hepatitis-mediated hepatocarcinogenesis. In addition to HBx, recently we have completed a pilot study by determining HCV core-related gene expression profiles in B lymphocytes. We found that HCV core may evict immunity by selectively suppressing genes involved in antigen presentation. These studies are useful in dissecting viral activities that are essential in hepatocarcinogenesis.
