COMPOSITION AND METHOD FOR CONTROLLING HEPATITIS C VIRUS INFECTION

摘要

Disclosed herein are methods and compositions for the treatment and prevention of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection and methods of screening for antiviral agents against HCV infection and/or production. A method of using compositions of certain apolipoprotein-specific monoclonal or polyclonal antibodies to inhibit HCV infectivity is disclosed. Further, methods of using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) specific to apolipoproteins for treating and/or preventing HCV infection are disclosed. Also disclosed are methods of using siRNAs specific and/or small molecule inhibitors to certain lipoprotein biosynthetic genes and of using recombinant apolipoprotein E and/or their forms of lipoproteins to treat and/or prevent HCV infections. Screening methods for anti-HCV agents include assessing the effect of a candidate agent on apolipoprotein E and/or apolipoprotein C-I gene expression, assembly, and/or secretion and assessing the effect of a candidate agent on the blockage of the interaction and/or incorporation of HCV nonstructural proteins and/or their fusion forms with reporter proteins into HCV virions.