The blood transcriptional signature of chronic hepatitis C virus is consistent with an ongoing interferon-mediated antiviral response.

ABSTRACT: Blood transcriptional profiling is a powerful tool for understanding global changes after infection, and may be useful for prognosis and prediction of drug treatment responses. This study characterizes the effects of chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection on gene expression by analyzing blood samples from 10 treatment-naïve HCV patients and 6 healthy volunteers. Differential expression analysis of microarray data from peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) identified a 136-gene signature, including 66 genes elevated in infected individuals. Most of the upregulated genes were associated with interferon (IFN) activity (including members of the OAS and MX families, ISG15, and IRF7), suggesting an ongoing immune response. This HCV signature was also found to be consistently enriched in

SUBMITTER: Bolen CR 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3539252 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature