FIG. 2.

Transcriptional activity of the enhancer I mutants derived from patients 1 to 10. (A and C) The enhancer I sequences between nt 2364 and 2716 and between nt 2364 and 2768 derived from wt HBV and the HBV sequences isolated from patients 1 to 10 were cloned as depicted in combination with the SV40 promoter in the pGL2 vector (A) or in the enhancer I-X promoter constructs (C) with the luciferase reporter gene alone. (B and D) Transfection experiments were performed with the different enhancer I (B) or enhancer I-X promoter constructs (D) in HuH-7 cells. The cells were harvested 48 h after transfection, and luciferase activity was measured. The error bars indicate standard deviations. The relative luciferase activities of the different mutant constructs are shown in comparison to that of the wt constructs, which was set to 1 (dashed lines). The activities for patients 1 and 3 are highlighted.