Little is known about the structure of the envelope glycoproteins of hepatitis C virus (HCV). To identify new regions essential for the function of these glycoproteins, we generated HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp) containing HCV envelope glycoproteins, E1 and E2, from different genotypes in order to detect intergenotypic incompatibilities between these two proteins. Several genotype combinations we...

The expression of mouse hepatitis virus (MHV) E2-specific mRNA, the E2 polypeptide and its associated cell fusing activity was monitored in various cell types inoculated with a recombinant vaccinia virus, designated vMS containing the E2 gene. The results suggest that host cell permissiveness to MHV infection correlates with cellular susceptibility to membrane fusion mediated by the MHV E2 glyc...

The E2 envelope glycoprotein of hepatitis C virus (HCV) binds to the host entry factor CD81 and is the principal target for neutralizing antibodies (NAbs). Most NAbs recognize hypervariable region 1 on E2, which undergoes frequent mutation, thereby allowing the virus to evade neutralization. Consequently, there is great interest in NAbs that target conserved epitopes. One such NAb is AP33, a mo...

Bovine viral diarrhea virus (BVDV) can cause lifelong persistent infection. One reason for the phenomena is attributed to BVDV infection to placenta tissue. However the mechanisms that BVDV invades into placenta tissue remain unclear. To clarify the molecular mechanisms, we investigated the possible means that BVDV entered into bovine trophoblast cells (TPC). Yeast two-hybrid system was used to...

The nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequences of the structural proteins of the TC-83 vaccine strain of Venezuelan equine encephalitis (VEE) virus have been determined from a cDNA clone containing the 26S mRNA coding region. A cDNA clone encoding the equivalent region of the virulent parent VEE virus [Trinidad donkey strain (TRD)] has been sequenced previously. Comparison of the sequences of ...

Hepatic sinusoidal endothelial cells are unique among endothelial cells in their ability to internalize and process a diverse range of antigens. DC-SIGNR, a type 2 C-type lectin expressed on liver sinusoids, has been shown to bind with high affinity to hepatitis C virus (HCV) E2 glycoprotein. DC-SIGN is a closely related homologue reported to be expressed only on dendritic cells and a subset of...

Improving vaccine immunogenicity by targeting antigens to dendritic cells has recently emerged as a new design strategy in vaccine development. In this study, the VP1 gene of foot-and-mouth disease virus (FMDV) serotype A was fused with the gene encoding human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) membrane glycoprotein gp120 or C2-V3 domain of hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope glycoprotein E2, both of wh...

hepatitis c virus (hcv) encodes two envelope glycoproteins, e1 and e2. our previous work selected a specific aptamer ze2, which could bind to e2 with high affinity, with a great potential for developing new molecular probes as an early diagnostic reagents or therapeutic drugs targeting hcv. in this study, the binding sites between e2 and aptamer ze2 were further explored. e2 was truncated to 15...