Hepatitis C virus cell culture adaptive mutations enhance cell culture propagation by multiple mechanisms but boost antiviral responses in primary human hepatocytes.

ABSTRACT: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection progresses to chronicity in the majority of infected individuals. Its high intra-host genetic variability enables HCV to evade the continuous selection pressure exerted by the host, contributing to persistent infection. Utilizing a cell culture adapted HCV population (p100pop) which exhibits increased replicative capacity in various liver cell lines, this study investigated virus and host determinants which underlie enhanced viral fitness. Characterization of a panel of molecular p100 clones revealed that cell culture adaptive mutations optimize a range of virus-host interactions, resulting in expanded cell tropism, altered dependence on the cellular co-factor micro-RNA 122 and increased rates of virus spread. On the host side, comparative transcriptional

SUBMITTER: Frericks N 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10690267 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature