However, we did not observe obvious change of the steady state level of HMGB1 upon wt HBV replication/infection or HBx overexpression, and the HBx-mediated HMGB1 translocation was rather a minor effect (Figs 5 and 6), thus, the detailed mechanism underlying HBx-mediated blockage of HMGB1-cccDNA interaction awaits further investigation. This evidence concerns the gene HMGB1 and infection.