scholarly journals Replication of Hepatitis C Virus Subgenomes in Nonhepatic Epithelial and Mouse Hepatoma Cells

2003 ◽  
Vol 77 (17) ◽  
pp. 9204-9210 ◽  
Author(s):  
Qing Zhu ◽  
Ju-Tao Guo ◽  
Christoph Seeger

ABSTRACT The hepatitis C virus (HCV) pandemic affects the health of more than 170 million people and is the major indication for orthotopic liver transplantations. Although the human liver is the primary site for HCV replication, it is not known whether extrahepatic tissues are also infected by the virus and whether nonprimate cells are permissive for RNA replication. Because HCV exists as a quasispecies, it is conceivable that a viral population may include variants that can replicate in different cell types and in other species. We have tested this hypothesis and found that subgenomic HCV RNAs can replicate in mouse hepatoma and nonhepatic human epithelial cells. Replicons isolated from these cell lines carry new mutations that could be involved in the control of tropism of the virus. Our results demonstrated that translation and RNA-directed RNA replication of HCV do not depend on hepatocyte or primate-specific factors. Moreover, our results could open the path for the development of animal models for HCV infection.

2012 ◽  
Vol 56 (4) ◽  
pp. 1907-1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christoph Welsch ◽  
Sabine Schweizer ◽  
Tetsuro Shimakami ◽  
Francisco S. Domingues ◽  
Seungtaek Kim ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTDrug-resistant viral variants are a major issue in the use of direct-acting antiviral agents in chronic hepatitis C. Ketoamides are potent inhibitors of the NS3 protease, with V55A identified as mutation associated with resistance to boceprevir. Underlying molecular mechanisms are only partially understood. We applied a comprehensive sequence analysis to characterize the natural variability at Val55 within dominant worldwide patient strains. A residue-interaction network and molecular dynamics simulation were applied to identify mechanisms for ketoamide resistance and viral fitness in Val55 variants. An infectious H77S.3 cell culture system was used for variant phenotype characterization. We measured antiviral 50% effective concentration (EC50) and fold changes, as well as RNA replication and infectious virus yields from viral RNAs containing variants. Val55 was found highly conserved throughout all hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes. The conservative V55A and V55I variants were identified from HCV genotype 1a strains with no variants in genotype 1b. Topology measures from a residue-interaction network of the protease structure suggest a potential Val55 key role for modulation of molecular changes in the protease ligand-binding site. Molecular dynamics showed variants with constricted binding pockets and a loss of H-bonded interactions upon boceprevir binding to the variant proteases. These effects might explain low-level boceprevir resistance in the V55A variant, as well as the Val55 variant, reduced RNA replication capacity. Higher structural flexibility was found in the wild-type protease, whereas variants showed lower flexibility. Reduced structural flexibility could impact the Val55 variant's ability to adapt for NS3 domain-domain interaction and might explain the virus yield drop observed in variant strains.


2010 ◽  
Vol 285 (36) ◽  
pp. 28183-28190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yin-Ju Chen ◽  
Yu-Hsuan Chen ◽  
Lu-Ping Chow ◽  
Ya-Hui Tsai ◽  
Pei-Hong Chen ◽  
...  

1994 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 593-597 ◽  
Author(s):  
Naoya Sakamoto ◽  
Nobuyuki Enomoto ◽  
Masayuki Kurosaki ◽  
Fumiaki Marumo ◽  
Chifumi Sato

2005 ◽  
Vol 48 (14) ◽  
pp. 4547-4557 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Harper ◽  
Salvatore Avolio ◽  
Barbara Pacini ◽  
Marcello Di Filippo ◽  
Sergio Altamura ◽  
...  

2018 ◽  
Vol 93 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Dong-Rong Yi ◽  
Ni An ◽  
Zhen-Long Liu ◽  
Feng-Wen Xu ◽  
Kavita Raniga ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTType I interferon (IFN) inhibits viruses by inducing the expression of antiviral proteins. The IFN-induced myxovirus resistance B (MxB) protein has been reported to inhibit a limited number of viruses, including HIV-1 and herpesviruses, but its antiviral coverage remains to be explored further. Here we show that MxB interferes with RNA replication of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and significantly inhibits viral replication in a cyclophilin A (CypA)-dependent manner. Our data further show that MxB interacts with the HCV protein NS5A, thereby impairing NS5A interaction with CypA and NS5A localization to the endoplasmic reticulum, two events essential for HCV RNA replication. Interestingly, we found that MxB significantly inhibits two additional CypA-dependent viruses of theFlaviviridaefamily, namely, Japanese encephalitis virus and dengue virus, suggesting a potential link between virus dependence on CypA and virus susceptibility to MxB inhibition. Collectively, these data have identified MxB as a key factor behind IFN-mediated suppression of HCV infection, and they suggest that other CypA-dependent viruses may also be subjected to MxB restriction.IMPORTANCEViruses of theFlaviviridaefamily cause major illness and death around the world and thus pose a great threat to human health. Here we show that IFN-inducible MxB restricts several members of theFlaviviridae, including HCV, Japanese encephalitis virus, and dengue virus. This finding not only suggests an active role of MxB in combating these major pathogenic human viruses but also significantly expands the antiviral spectrum of MxB. Our study further strengthens the link between virus dependence on CypA and susceptibility to MxB restriction and also suggests that MxB may employ a common mechanism to inhibit different viruses. Elucidating the antiviral functions of MxB advances our understanding of IFN-mediated host antiviral defense and may open new avenues to the development of novel antiviral therapeutics.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (5) ◽  
pp. 2689-2699 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhea Sumpter ◽  
Yueh-Ming Loo ◽  
Eileen Foy ◽  
Kui Li ◽  
Mitsutoshi Yoneyama ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Virus-responsive signaling pathways that induce alpha/beta interferon production and engage intracellular immune defenses influence the outcome of many viral infections. The processes that trigger these defenses and their effect upon host permissiveness for specific viral pathogens are not well understood. We show that structured hepatitis C virus (HCV) genomic RNA activates interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3), thereby inducing interferon in cultured cells. This response is absent in cells selected for permissiveness for HCV RNA replication. Studies including genetic complementation revealed that permissiveness is due to mutational inactivation of RIG-I, an interferon-inducible cellular DExD/H box RNA helicase. Its helicase domain binds HCV RNA and transduces the activation signal for IRF3 by its caspase recruiting domain homolog. RIG-I is thus a pathogen receptor that regulates cellular permissiveness to HCV replication and, as an interferon-responsive gene, may play a key role in interferon-based therapies for the treatment of HCV infection.


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