Figure 3.

HBx via its distal C-terminal region sequesters p53 to the cytoplasm. (A) Normal human fibroblasts were microinjected with a p53 expression vector and either full-length HBx (CMV-1–154X) or a deletion mutant missing the last 44 amino acids (CMV-1–110X) followed by incubation for 24 h. Immunostaining was performed as described in Materials and Methods. (B) Confocal microscopic analysis of normal human fibroblasts coinjected with p53 and full-length HBx expression vectors. Yellow regions represent areas of colocalization. (Upper) Representative example of the degree of cytoplasmic sequestration typically observed in fibroblasts overexpressing p53 and HBx. (Lower) Fibroblast with all detectable p53 colocalizing with HBx in the cytoplasm.