Network based analysis of Hepatitis C Virus infection

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease in humans infecting about 170 million individuals worldwide. Therefore, there is much interest to understand the biology of HCV infection and develop effective remedies. While, studies have provided some insights into HCV infection such as a critical role for the interactions between the viral component (HCV core protein) and a host regulator PA28γ [1], a detailed understanding of the mechanisms involved in HCV infection remains elusive. The increasing availability of Protein-protein interaction (PPI) data for different organisms including humans and host-pathogen associations has facilitated the development of network-based models of human diseases. Construction and analysis of such ‘infection networks’ permits a global overview of pathogenesis with the potential to identify novel regulators of cellular infection [2]. To investigate HCV pathogenesis and replication, different biological datatypes were employed for construction of extended ‘infection networks’ and examined for specific functional associations and their significance to HCV pathogenesis.