Short hairpin RNAs (shRNAs) efficiently inhibit gene expression by RNA interference. Here, we report the efficient inhibition by DNA-based vector-derived shRNAs of core protein expression in Huh-7 cells. The shRNAs were designed to target the core region of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) genome. The core region is the most conserved region in the HCV genome, making it an ideal target for shRNAs. W...

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are small noncoding RNAs that regulate eukaryotic gene expression by binding to regions of imperfect complementarity in mRNAs, typically in the 3' UTR, recruiting an Argonaute (Ago) protein complex that usually results in translational repression or destabilization of the target RNA. The translation and decay of mRNAs are closely linked, competing processes, and whether the m...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a positive-sense, single-stranded RNA that causes chronic hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Cellular microRNAs (miRNAs) directly modulate the viral infectivity indirectly through targeting virus-related host factors. They play an essential role in progression of different stages HCV infection. The roles miR-196 family infection carcinoma remain poorly understood...

Genetic suppressor elements (GSEs) are biomolecules derived from a gene or genome of interest that act as transdominant inhibitors of biological functions presumably by disruption of critical biological interfaces. We exploited a cell death reporter cell line for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection, n4mBid, to develop an iterative selection/enrichment strategy for the identification of anti-HCV G...

Considering growing evidence indicating that hepatitis C virus (HCV) replicates in lymphoid cells, establishment of a reliable and sensitive method for detection of HCV in these cells may provide means for monitoring the infection and the efficacy of sterilizing antiviral therapy. In this study, conditions for ex vivo augmentation and detection of the HCV genome in peripheral blood mononuclear ...

BACKGROUND The potential risk for transmission of hepatitis C virus (HCV) by peritoneal dialysis (PD) has been studied previously, with conflicting results. METHODS To assess whether HCV crosses the peritoneal membrane, the following determinations were performed in 16 patients (7 males, 9 females; mean age 41.8 years; mean time on PD 14 +/- 15 months) undergoing PD: serum anti-HCV using seco...

conclusions there were significant linkages between hcv genotypes and il28b genotypes/alleles. patients with a favorable il28b and genotypes 1 and 4 hcv infection stand a better chance to clear hcv in the acute phase. objectives this meta-analysis was designed to determine the world-wide distribution patterns of il28b genotypes and alleles, and to find possible linkages between il28b and hcv ge...

Genotype 1 of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most prevalent of the variants of this virus. Its two main subtypes, HCV-1a and HCV-1b, are associated to differences in epidemic features and risk groups, despite sharing similar features in most biological properties. We have analyzed the impact of positive selection on the evolution of these variants using complete genome coding regions, and c...

BACKGROUND Recent studies suggest that rare codon clusters are functionally important for protein activity. METHODS Here, for the first time we analyzed and reported rare codon clusters in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) genome and then identified the location of these rare codon clusters in the structure of HCV protein. This analysis was performed using the Sherlocc program that detects statistically ...

Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) and other plus-strand RNA viruses typically require the generation of a small number of negative genomes (20-100× lower than the positive genomes) for replication, making the less-abundant antigenome an attractive target for RNA interference(RNAi)-based therapy. Because of the complementarity of duplex short hairpin RNA/small interfering RNA (shRNA/siRNAs) with both geno...