Clarifying the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis C through comprehensive genetic analyses of the virus and host using next-generation sequencer

丙型肝炎病毒被认为存在于宿主体内，是各种病毒突变亚群的复杂混合物，称为“准种”。然而，由于技术上的限制，分析病毒准种及其在肝炎发病中的作用一直很困难。在这项研究中，通过引入革命性的新一代测序技术，我们揭示了准种状态及其动态与抗病毒治疗和肝癌发生有显著关联。

Hepatitis C virus has been considered to exist in a host as a complex mixture of various viral mutant subpopulations called as "quasispecies". However, analyzing viral quasispecies and its role in the pathogenesis of hepatitis has been difficult due to the technical limitation. In this study, through introducing the revolutionary technology of next-generation sequencing, we disclosed that the quasispecies state and its dynamics had a significant association with antiviral therapies as well as hepatocarcinogenesis.