Lifestyle-Related Diseases of the Digestive System: A New In Vitro Model of Hepatitis C Virion Production: Application of Basic Research on Hepatitis C Virus to Clinical Medicine

Abstract

Abstract. The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is an enveloped virus with a single positive-strand RNA genome of about 9.6 kb. It is a major cause of liver disease worldwide. Clear understanding of the viral life cycle has been hampered by the lack of a robust cell culture system. While the development of the HCV replicon system was a major breakthrough, infectious virions could not be produced with the replicon system. Recently, several groups have reported producing HCV virions using in vitro systems. One of these is a replicon system, but with the special genotype 2a strain JFH-1. Another is a DNA transfection system, with the construct containing the cDNA of the known infectious HCV genotype 1b flanked by two ribozymes. The development of these models further extends the repertoire of tools available for the study of HCV biology, and in particular, they may help to elucidate the molecular details of hepatitis C viral assembly and release. This review discusses the progression of experimental strategies related to HCV and how these strategies may be applied to clinical medicine.

Genetic Dissection of the Host Tropism of Human-Tropic Pathogens

“…siRNA-based screens have also been applied to the search for factors regulating members of the family Flaviviridae, such as West Nile Virus (WNV), DENV, and HCV. Although several siRNA screens have focused on particular host targets involved in the HCV life cycle (5,111,118,139), two major, whole-genome siRNA screens to date have been performed for uncovering HCV host dependencies (74,140). One study focused on host factors regulating viral RNA replication through the use of cell lines expressing a selectable viral RNA-a so-called HCV replicon.…”

Treatment Options for Hepatitis C and the Rationale for Low Response Rates in African Americans

“…Masanori and Nobuyuki 25 recently published that statins also (atorvastatin, simvastatin, fluvastatin, lovastatin, and pitavastatin) enhanced the anti-HCV effect of this interferon. Saito and colleagues 26 report in their article, of the production of a replicon system for genotypes 2a (strain JFH-1) and a transfection system of genotype 1b. This gives more opportunity for biologists to be able to elucidate the molecular details of hepatitis C. A retrospective analysis of African Americans with genotype 2 and 3 who had received treatment for HCV was conducted.…”