{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,7]],"date-time":"2026-10-07T13:29:56Z","timestamp":1791379796305,"version":"4.3.3"},"reference-count":49,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"14","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,16]],"date-time":"2021-07-16T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1626393600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"funder":[{"name":"the National Major Science &amp; Technology Project for Control and Prevention of Major Infectious Diseases in China","award":["No. 2018ZX10301401"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 2018ZX10301401"]}]},{"name":"the National Science Foundation for Young Scientists of China","award":["No. 82001687"],"award-info":[{"award-number":["No. 82001687"]}]}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["IJMS"],"abstract":"<jats:p>NK cells play crucial roles in defending against persistent HBV. However, NK cells present dysfunction in chronic hepatitis B virus (CHB) infection, and the associated mechanism is still not fully understood. Except for the regulatory receptors, NK cells could also be regulated by the surface and intracellular pattern recognition receptors (PRRs). In the present study, we found that the level of the adaptor of DNA sensor STING in NK cells was significantly decreased in HBeAg-negative CHB patients, and it was positively associated with the degranulation ability of NK cells. Compared to NK cells from healthy donors, NK cells from HBeAg-negative CHB patients displayed a lower responsiveness to cGAMP stimulation. Further investigation showed that HBsAg could inhibit the STING expression in NK cells and suppress the response of NK cells to cGAMP. Significantly, STAT3 was identified to be a transcription factor that directly regulated STING transcription by binding to the promoter. In addition, STAT3 positively regulated the STING associated IFN-\u03b1 response of NK cells. These findings suggested that STING is an important adaptor in NK cell recognition and activation, while HBsAg disturbs NK cell function by the STAT3-STING axis, providing a new mechanism of NK disability in HBeAg-negative CHB infection.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/ijms22147643","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,18]],"date-time":"2021-07-18T21:16:48Z","timestamp":1626643008000},"page":"7643","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["HBsAg Dampened STING Associated Activation of NK Cells in HBeAg-Negative CHB Patients"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"22","author":[{"given":"Bingqing","family":"Zheng","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yating","family":"Yu","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhaoyi","family":"Pan","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Yujie","family":"Feng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Huajun","family":"Zhao","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Qiuju","family":"Han","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Jian","family":"Zhang","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Institute of Immunopharmaceutical Sciences, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China"}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2021,7,16]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"18035","DOI":"10.1038\/nrdp.2018.35","article-title":"Hepatitis B virus infection","volume":"4","author":"Yuen","year":"2018","journal-title":"Nat. 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