Deborah L. Johnson

 Ph.D.

Professor

School of Pharmacy
Department of Molecular Pharmacology and Toxicology

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is an infectious agent affecting over 300 million people world-wide. One of the HBV gene products, the X protein, trans-activates a large number of cellular and viral genes. Evidence supports the view that the X-protein has a critical role in establishing infection and a direct role in the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. She has shown that X mediates an increase in the cellular levels of the TATA-binding protein (TBP), a factor involved in the transcription of all cellular genes, and that this protein is limiting for the expression of RNA pol III genes.

 

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