SummaryIn this study it was found that ZFP36 is required for ABA-induced antioxidant defence and for the regulation of the cross-talk between NADPH oxidase, H2O2, and MAPK in ABA signalling.

C hronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a worldwide health problem that can lead to chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and end-stage liver disease. 1 The virus has a plus-stranded RNA genome with a single long open-reading frame containing 5Ј and 3Ј flanking nontranslated nucleotide regions that are important for translation and replication. Although wild-type virus grows poorly in cell culture, 2 the development of subgenomic and full-length HCV replicons that stably replicate HCV RNA in permissive human hepatoma cells has provided the opportunity for detailed investigation of HCV cellular activities. 3,4 Standard treatment of patients with chronic HCV includes alpha-interferon and ribavirin for 24 to 48 weeks, depending on HCV genotype. Nearly half of all patients treated fail to achieve sustained viral eradication or relapse after therapy. 5 Consequently, new interest has focused on development of additional treatment options. 6 A major aim of new management strategies is to prevent chronic liver injury from the virus by interference with the viral life cycle or hepatic inflammatory injury at critical points.

Antioxidant enzymes, including heme oxygenase (HO)-1, are an important line of defense against oxidant-mediated liver injury. Because hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection appears to increase the production of oxidants, we evaluated levels of antioxidant enzymes and HO-1 in liver-biopsy samples from HCV-infected patients by immunoblot and semiquantitative reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction. In HCV-infected liver samples, levels of immunoreactive HO-1 and HO-1 mRNA were >4-fold lower than levels in control samples, but levels of superoxide dismutase and catalase were unaffected. Immunohistochemical results confirmed the decreased expression of HO-1 in hepatocytes from liver samples from HCV-infected patients but not in those from patients with other chronic liver diseases. The expression of HO-1 was also reduced in cell lines that stably express HCV core protein, which suggests that core gene products are capable of regulating the expression of HO-1.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a highly infective disease caused by the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 virus (SARS-CoV-2). Previous studies on COVID-19 pneumonia outbreak were based on information from the general population.