Direct Infection and Replication of Naturally Occurring Hepatitis C Virus Genotypes 1 2 3 and 4 in Normal Human Hepatocyte Cultures

摘要

BackgroundHepatitis C virus (HCV) infection afflicts about 170 million individuals worldwide. However, the HCV life cycle is only partially understood because it has not been possible to infect normal human hepatocytes in culture. The current Huh-7 systems use cloned, synthetic HCV RNA expressed in hepatocellular carcinoma cells to produce virions, but these cells cannot be infected with naturally occurring HCV obtained from infected patients.