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Interferons α, β, γ each inhibit hepatitis C virus replication at the level of internal ribosome entry site‐mediated translation
Author(s) -
Dash Srikanta,
Prabhu Ramesh,
Hazari Sidhartha,
Bastian Frank,
Garry Robert,
Zou Weiping,
Haque Salima,
Joshi Virendra,
Regenstein Fredric G.,
Thung Swan N.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
liver international
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.873
H-Index - 110
eISSN - 1478-3231
pISSN - 1478-3223
DOI - 10.1111/j.1478-3231.2005.01082.x
Subject(s) - internal ribosome entry site , translation (biology) , virology , untranslated region , biology , ns2 3 protease , rna , hepatitis c virus , five prime untranslated region , eukaryotic translation , interferon , ribosome , viral replication , protein biosynthesis , messenger rna , virus , microbiology and biotechnology , gene , genetics
Interferon (IFN)‐α is the standard therapy for the treatment of chronic hepatitis C, but the mechanisms underlying its antiviral action are not well understood. In this report, we demonstrated that IFN‐α, ‐β and ‐γ inhibit replication of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a cell culture model at concentrations between 10 and 100 IU/ml. We demonstrated that the antiviral actions each of each these IFNs are targeted to the highly conserved 5′ untranslated region of the HCV genome, and that they directly inhibit translation from a chimeric clone between full‐length HCV genome and green fluorescent protein (GFP). This effect is not limited to HCV internal ribosome entry site (IRES), since these IFNs also inhibit translation of the encephalomyocardititis virus (EMCV) chimeric mRNA in which GFP is expressed by IRES‐dependent mechanisms (pCITE‐GFP). These IFNs had minimal effects on the expression of mRNAs from clones in which translation is not IRES dependent. We conclude that IFN‐α, ‐β and ‐γ inhibit replication of sub‐genomic HCV RNA in a cell culture model by directly inhibiting two internal translation initiation sites of HCV‐ and EMCV‐IRES sequences present in the dicistronic HCV sub‐genomic RNA. Results of this in vitro study suggest that selective inhibition of IRES‐mediated translation of viral polyprotein is a general mechanism by which IFNs inhibits HCV replication.