HBx-induced degradation of Smc5/6 complex impairs homologous recombination-mediated repair of damaged DNA

HBV causes hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). While it was recently shown that the ability of HBV X protein (HBx) to impair the Smc5/6 (structural maintenance of chromosome 5/6) complex is important for viral transcription, HBx is also a potent driver of HCC. However, the mechanism by which HBx expression induces hepatocarcinogenesis is unclear.Degradation of the Smc5/6 complex and accumulation of DNA damage were observed in both in vivo and in...