The mechanisms of hepatocyte death and the events that lead to a high rate of chronic liver disease in patients infected with hepatitis C virus are not known. We established a HCV replication system in HepG2 cell culture and utilized this model to address the effect of HCV proteins on HepG2 cell growth and viability. After transfection of HepG2 cells with full-length RNA, a truncated RNA, or an antisense RNA, cell proliferation and cell viability were analyzed by thymidine uptake and the trypan blue exclusion method, respectively. Full-length RNA transfected HepG2 cells showed a decrease in cell proliferation and viability compared to cells transfected with HCV truncated RNA and antisense RNA control. A subset of cells expressing HCV proteins underwent apoptosis as documented by morphological studies, ultrastructural analysis, cell cycle analysis by flow cytometry, terminal transferase enzyme mediated end labeling of DNA, and DNA laddering. This study suggests that expression of HCV proteins can lead to cell death by apoptosis, which may be an important event in the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C virus infection in humans.
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3), with its protease, helicase, and NTPase enzymatic activities, plays a crucial role in viral replication, and therefore represents an ideal target for the development of anti-viral agents. We have developed a recombinant human antibody (Fab) that reacts with the helicase domain of HCV NS3. The affinity-purified Fab antibody completely inhibited the helicase activity of HCV NS3 at equimolar concentration. To evaluate the effect of the Fab on HCV replication, the clone encoding the Fab gene was put into an expression vector, which converts Fab into a complete IgG1 antibody. Using a DNA-based transfection model, we demonstrated that intracellular expression of this antibody resulted in significant reduction of HCV-negative strand RNA synthesis. Intracellular expression of this antibody into either a stable cell line replicating subgenomic RNA, or a transient full-length HCV replication model, reduced both HCV RNA and viral protein expression. These results support the use of recombinant antibody fragments to inhibit NS3 enzyme as a novel, feasible, and effective approach for inhibiting HCV replication.
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