background hepatitis c virus (hcv) infection is the most significant source of chronic liver diseases in the globe. about 170 million individuals are infected by hcv worldwide. the reported prevalence of hcv in different areas of khyber pakhtunkhwa (kp) ranges from 4.1 to 36%. objectives the current study aimed to analyze the true prevalence of hcv infection in khyber pakhtunkhwa, pakistan. mat...

background and objectives: hepatitis c virus (hcv) is a major public health problem worldwide. replication and persistence of hcv genome have been described in the liver tissue as well as b cells lymphocyte. several investigations have reported that long-term persistence of hcv in b cells may result in hodgkin and non-hodgkin lymphoma. this study was aimed to determine frequency of hcv rna in h...

BACKGROUND/AIM Several types of the hepatitis C virus (HCV), with variations in different parts of the genome, have been isolated from different regions of the world. Based on heterogenic sequences in the isolated genome, HCV is classified into different genotypes and subtypes. Data on distribution of HCV genotypes in a certain region could be important to patient management. Therefore, this st...

Sequences in the 5' and 3' termini of plus-strand RNA viruses harbor cis-acting elements important for efficient translation and replication. In case of the hepatitis C virus (HCV), a plus-strand RNA virus of the family Flaviviridae, a 341-nucleotide-long nontranslated region (NTR) is located at the 5' end of the genome. This sequence contains an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that is loca...

The features of Hepatitis C virus (HCV) quasispecies within an envelope segment including the hypervariable region 1 were analysed at an early time point post-infection in seven patients that acquired HCV from a single common donor during a nosocomial outbreak. The grouping of patients according to viral load was reflected in the structure of the quasispecies. A higher viral load correlated wit...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) causes chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer. cis-acting RNA elements of the HCV genome are critical for translation initiation and replication of the viral genome. We hypothesized that the coding regions of nonstructural proteins harbor enhancer and essential cis-acting replication elements (CRE). In order to experimentally identify new cis RNA elements, we uti...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) cell culture system with JFH-1 strain and HuH-7 cells enabled us to produce infectious HCV particles in vitro, and such system is useful to explore the anti-HCV compounds and to develop the vaccine against HCV. In the present study, we describe the derivation of a cell line that permits improved production of HCV particles. Specifically, we characterized several subclone...

BACKGROUND/AIMS Molecular epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV) shows that HCV genotypes are unique with respect to their nucleotide sequence, geographical distribution and clinical relationship. METHODS In this study we enrolled 67 HCV-infected individuals with various stages of liver disease from four geographical regions of Turkey. A partial NS5B region of the HCV genome was sequenced an...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) replication is dependent on the existence of several highly conserved functional genomic RNA domains. The cis-acting replication element (CRE), located within the 3' end of the NS5B coding region of the HCV genome, has been shown essential for efficient viral replication. Its sequence and structural features determine its involvement in functional interactions with viral...

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes acute and chronic hepatitis leading to cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma which are the major health problems around the world including Thai population. Many recent studies were shown an important role of microRNA (miRNA) to inhibit or promote viral replication. This study aimed to investigate human miRNAs and analyze hybridization patterns between ...