Induction of Reactive Oxygen Species by Hepatitis C Virus and its Role in Liver Pathogenesis.

大多数感染丙型肝炎病毒(丙型肝炎病毒)的人在20-30年内表现出缓慢的肝病进展。对肝脏的恐惧增加，这可能会导致肝功能衰竭，在某些人中还会导致肝癌。由于缺乏合适的模型系统来研究丙型肝炎病毒感染和疾病进展，目前还没有可用的疫苗，治疗选择也有限。虽然对丙型肝炎病毒的宿主防御机制已有较好的研究，但病毒蛋白和病毒复制在肝病发展中所起的作用还没有得到很好的描述。之前在实验室的实验表明，丙型肝炎病毒的一种蛋白会导致有毒氧分子的形成，这种氧分子被称为活性氧物种。这种有毒的氧分子可以对肝细胞产生影响，这可能会加速丙型肝炎病毒感染者的肝病进程。这些分子在肝细胞中的作用尚不清楚，但计划在实验室模型系统和从丙型肝炎病毒感染者身上获得的样本中进行实验，以进一步检查可能的机制。这将有望导致丙型肝炎病毒肝病的新疗法的确定。一些丙型肝炎患者会患上肝癌，然而，所有的原因都还不清楚。使用被称为微阵列的新技术，这是人类基因组计划的结果，我们已经能够观察到肝癌中数千个基因的表达水平。计划进行实验，以确定这些基因在肝癌中是否重要，以及它们是否可以用作治疗的靶点或更容易诊断肝癌。

The majority of individuals infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV) show a slow progression of liver disease over a period of 20-30 years. There is increased scaring of the liver which can result in liver failure and in some individuals liver cancer. Due to the lack of suitable model systems to study HCV infection and disease progression there is no currently available vaccine and treatment options are limited. While the host defense mechanisms to HCV are relatively well studied the role that viral proteins and viral replication play in the development of liver disease are not well characterized. Previous experiments in the laboratory have shown that one of the hepatitis C virus proteins results in the formation of toxic oxygen molecules known as a reactive oxygen species. This toxic oxygen molecules can have an effect on liver cells that may enhance the progression of the liver disease process in hepatitis C virus infected individuals. The role that these molecules play in liver cells is unknown but experiments are planned in laboratory model systems and in specimens obtained from hepatitis C virus infected individuals to further examine potential mechanisms. This will hopefully lead to the identification of new treatments for hepatitis C virus liver disease. Some patients with hepatitis C will develop liver cancer, however, all the reasons are not known. Using new technology known as microarray, a consequence of the human genome project, we have been able to look at the expression levels of thousands of genes in liver cancer. Experiments are planned to determine if these genes are important in liver cancer and if they can be used as targets for therapy or to more easily diagnose liver cancer.