Hepatitis C virus (HCV), the causative agent of hepatitis C, frequently causes chronic infection. The mechanisms of viral persistence continue to be the object of investigation. An important aspect of HCV chronic infection is the quasispecies nature of the viral population, which has been particularly well documented in the hypervariable region 1 of the E2 glycoprotein. Recent studies show that...

Viral infections are initially countered by an innate immune response as a first line of defence followed by an adaptive immune response. However, certain viruses successfully evade cellular immune responses and establish chronic infection. Hepatitis C virus (HCV) and Human Immunodeficiency Virus 1 (HIV-1) are chronic viral infections on the rise globally. HCV/HIV-1 co-infection presents a form...

CD4+ Treg-cells (regulatory T-cells) probably contribute to the impaired virus-specific T-cell responses in chronic HCV (hepatitis C virus) infection; however, their antigen-specificity has remained elusive. In the present study, we analysed peripheral blood CD4+ Treg-cells in patients with chronic hepatitis C and subjects with self-limited HCV infection and characterized individual Treg-cell c...

INTRODUCTION Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infections remain an increasingly prevalent and emergent health problem worldwide, causing a wide spectrum of liver diseases. Combination therapy with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) of peginterferon alfa-2a and oral ribavirin is currently recognized as the standard treatment of chronic HCV infection. Several complex immunological mechanisms are involved duri...

BACKGROUND Previous reports have indicated that insulin resistance (IR) is associated with chronic hepatits C virus (HCV) infection. However, the correlations between IR, metabolic syndrome (MS), and serum HCV RNA levels are still controversial. The aim of this study was to determine the relationships between IR, MS, and HCV RNA in patients with chronic genotype 1 or 2 HCV infection. METHODS ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major health problem in patients with end-stage renal disease (ESRD). The incidence of acute HCV infection during maintenance dialysis is much higher than that in the general population because of the risk of nosocomial transmission. Following acute HCV infection, most patients develop chronic HCV infection, and a significant proportion develop chronic hep...

BACKGROUND Pathogenesis of hepatitis C virus (HCV) associated liver injury is thought to be due to the host antiviral immune response. Using a quantitative, competitive RT-PCR technique, we recently showed that expression of interferon gamma (IFN-gamma) and IFN-gamma inducible type of nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) is increased in homogenised liver tissue of patients with chronic HCV infection. ...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection frequently leads to chronic liver disease, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The molecular mechanisms by which HCV infection leads to chronic liver disease and HCC are not well understood. The infection cycle of HCV is initiated by the attachment and entry of virus particles into a hepatocyte. Replication of the HCV genome inside hepatocytes l...