Plasmacytoid dendritic cells as guardians in hepatitis C virus-infected liver

摘要

The innate immune response to viruses involves type IIFN (i.e., IFN-α and -β)-modulated up-regulation of cellular genes that are key mediators of antiviral defenses. Cellular proteins such as RNA helicase retinoic acid-inducible gene I (RIG-I) and Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns, which are the hallmark of viral infections (1, 2). Consequently, many viruses have developed strategies to evade the IFN system. Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a liver-tropic virus that chronically infects approximately 170 million people worldwide (3), is able to attenuate the IFN response at multiple levels within infected hep-atocytes.