Potential therapeutic targets for hepatitis C Virus

Scientists have discovered how the hepatitis C virus (HCV) hijacks the communication systems within the host cells it infects, which may lead to the development of new therapeutic targets. The findings, published in Nature Communications, build upon prior work in the malaria scope, which found that preventing the host cell protein kinases from working caused it to kill malaria parasites. In the current study, the investigators used an antibody microarray to simultaneously examine hundreds of factors that are involved in cell signaling and were modulated by HCV replication, including human protein kinases. “The antibody microarray allowed us to find a number of new cell signaling pathways that were activated or suppressed by an HCV infection,” said author Christian Doerig. Using gene silencing technology, the investigators sought to determine whether the identified genes’ cell factors were imperative for HCV replication, and as a result, potential targets for anti-HCV compounds. They used a compound recently...