Hepatitis C Virus (HCV)

Abstract

1.1 Characteristics of HCV HCV is the sole virus species of the genus Hepacivirus which, together with the genera Flavivirus and Pestivirus, constitutes the Flaviviridae family of viruses [1, 2]. The genera Hepacivirus and Pestivirus are structurally and biologically more closely related to one another than to the genus Flavivirus. Unlike Flavivirus, neither requires arthropods as vectors, and both may cause persistent infections in mammals. HCV is similar to the GB virus type B (GBV-B) that causes hepatitis in tamarin monkeys. Less closely related to HCV are GBV-A in various New World monkeys and GBV-C in humans [2], which to date has no known pathogenicity. The virus particles of Flaviviridae are surrounded by a lipid envelope in which at least two glycosylated surface proteins are anchored: E1 and E2 in the case of the genera Hepacivirus and Pestivirus, M and E in the case of the genus Flavivirus. (Pestiviruses additionally contain an E^rns). The viral envelope encloses a core particle formed from core protein and the single- stranded genome RNA with approximately 9,600 bases (in the case of HCV). Since only modest amounts of HCV can be isolated from plasma, the structure of the virus particles has not yet been exhaustively investigated. The hypothetical model in figure 1 has been inferred from knowledge about other Flaviviridae. ...