Résumé
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) encodes a polyprotein consisting of core, envelope (E1, E2, p7), and nonstructural polypeptides (NS2, NS3, NS4A, NS4B, NS5A, NS5B). The serine protease (NS3/NS4A), helicase (NS3), and polymerase (NS5B) constitute valid targets for antiviral therapy. We engineered BH3 interacting domain death agonist (BID), an apoptosis-inducing molecule, to contain a specific cleavage site recognized by the NS3/NS4A protease. Cleavage of the BID precursor molecule by the viral protease activated downstream apoptotic molecules of the mitochondrial pathway and triggered cell death. We extended this concept to cells transfected with an infectious HCV genome, hepatocytes containing HCV replicons, a Sindbis virus model for HCV, and finally HCV-infected mice with chimeric human livers. Infected mice injected with an adenovirus vector expressing modified BID exhibited HCV-dependent apoptosis in the human liver xenograft and considerable declines in serum HCV titers.
Langue d'origine | English |
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Pages (de-à) | 519-525 |
Nombre de pages | 7 |
Journal | Nature Biotechnology |
Volume | 21 |
Numéro de publication | 5 |
DOI | |
Statut de publication | Published - mai 1 2003 |
Publié à l'externe | Oui |
Note bibliographique
Funding Information:Acknowledgments Valuable discussions with Wen-Chen Yeh, Katsuya Tsuchihara, Razq Hakem, Malte Peters, and Tak W. Mak were much appreciated. This work was supported by the Canadian Institutes of Health Grant no. EOP-38155 and CANVAC (Canadian Network of Centres of Excellence).
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Biotechnology
- Bioengineering
- Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology
- Molecular Medicine
- Biomedical Engineering