Although a few years away from being a possible therapeutic strategy, researchers from Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) have made a startling discovery in the way they can block the reproduction of the hepatitis C virus (HCV).
Initial research to harness the replication of the hepatitis C virus related to the actual virus itself, with any form of treatment having a low success rate and often serious side effects that are intolerable for the patient. The new study reveals they can successfully block & suppress reproduction of the virus in cultured cells by targeting the genes that the virus utilises during its life cycle.
“For the current study the researchers examined whether blocking each of the approximately 21,000 predicted messenger RNA transcripts in the human genome with small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) had any effect on HCV replication.”
The results showed that 96 genes are associated with viral replication, from which they focused on several to conclude that blocking each of the particular genes, (one that focused on the coding of an enzyme called PI4KA, one that contributed to the formation of the COPI coat & one responsible for the regulation of the hepcidin protein), also blocked the HCV replication. Similar results were found when drugs were used to restrain the enzyme PI4KA & COPI.
Such research is vital as hepatitis C infects close to 200 million people worldwide & long-term infection can often lead to liver failure & liver cancer.
Such study is being attempted for other viruses including influenza, West Nile virus & HIV; one can only hope such progress is made.
"Now we need to work to uncover the molecular mechanisms by which these genes support HCV replication to get a better idea of which would be advantageous therapeutic targets," explains Raymond Chung, MD, director of Hepatology in the MGH Gastrointestinal Unit, the study's senior author.
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1. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/142921.php
2. http://harvardscience.harvard.edu/sites/default/files/full/hepCfull.jpg (IMAGE)
3. http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/9/90/HCV_prevalence_1999.png/800px-HCV_prevalence_1999.png (image)
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hepatitis_C
