Objective      To detect the effect of hepatitis B virus X (HBx) protein on hepatic oval cells and to investigate whether HBx protein can induce malignant transformation of hepatic oval cells after c-myc gene silencing.       Methods      The WB-F344 hepatic oval cells was separately infected with adenoviral vector (WB-F344-Mock group

blank control) and adenovirus expressing HBx protein (WB-F344-HBx group) or expressing EGFP (WB-F344-EGFP group

negative control). The expression of c-myc in th

e 3 groups of was confirmed by real-time PCR and Western blotting. The cell cycle

proliferation

ability of metastasis and tumorigenicity were detected with flow cytometry

metastasis experiment and tumor experiment in vitro

respectively.       Results      Compare with the WB-F344-Mock and WB-F344-EGFP groups

the WB-F344-HBx group highly expressed c-myc protein

showed significantly accelerated process of G

1

/S cell cycle

and had stronger ability of metastasis and sphere formation. There was no significant difference in cell cycle

ability of metastasis and sphere formation between the WB-F344- EGFP and WB-F344-Mock groups. There was no significant difference in cell cycle

ability of metastasis and sphere formation between the WB-F344-HBx group and the WB-F344-Mock group as well as the WB-F344-EGFP group after c-myc silencing with siRNA.       Conclusion      HBx protein induces the malignant transformation of hepatic oval cells by activating c-myc gene.