Nonstructural 5A Protein of Hepatitis C Virus Regulates Soluble Resistance-Related Calcium-Binding Protein Activity for Viral Propagation

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major cause of chronic liver disease and is highly dependent on cellular proteins for virus propagation. To identify the cellular factors involved in HCV propagation, we recently performed protein microarray assays using the HCV nonstructural 5A (NS5A) protein as a probe. Of 90 cellular protein candidates, we selected the soluble resistance-related calcium-binding protein (sorcin) for further characterization. Sorcin is a calcium-binding protein and is highly expressed in certain cancer cells. We verified that NS5A interacted with sorcin through domain I of NS5A, and phosphorylation of the threonine residue 155 of sorcin played a crucial role in protein interaction. Small interfering RNA (siRNA)-mediated knockdown of sorcin impaired HCV propagation. Silencing of sorcin expression resulted in a decrease of HCV assembly without affecting HCV RNA and protein levels. We further demonstrated that polo-like kinase 1 (PLK1)-mediated phosphorylation of sorcin was increased by NS5A. We showed that both phosphorylation and calcium-binding activity of sorcin were required for HCV propagation. These data indicate that HCV modulates sorcin activity via NS5A protein for its own propagation.