Interleukin-6 (IL-6) is a pleiotropic
cytokine with pivotal functions in the regulation of the
biological responses of several target cells including hepatocytes. The level of serum
IL-6 has been reported to be elevated in patients with
chronic hepatitis B,
cirrhosis and
hepatocellular carcinoma and represents the best marker of HBV-related
clinical progression as compared with several other
cytokines. In this study, we found that
IL-6 was able to effectively suppress hepatitis B virus (HBV) replication and prevent the accumulation of HBV covalently closed
circular DNA (cccDNA) in a human
hepatoma cell line. We also demonstrated that the suppression of HBV replication by
IL-6 requires concurrently a moderate reduction of viral transcripts/core
proteins and a marked decrease in viral genome-containing nucleocapsids. Studies on the stability of existing viral capsids suggest that the
IL-6 effect on the reduction of genome-containing nucleocapsids is mediated through the prevention of the formation of genome-containing nucleocapsids, which is similar to the effect of
interferons. However, IFN-alpha/beta and IFN-gamma did not participate in the IL-6-induced suppression of HBV replication. Taken together, our results will provide important information to better understand the role of
IL-6 in the course of HBV
infection.