TY - JOUR
T1 - Characterization of the 5′ noncoding and structural region of the hepatitis C virus genome from patients with non-A, non-B hepatitis responding differently to interferon treatment
AU - Nakazawa, Takahide
AU - Kato, Nobuyuki
AU - Ohkoshi, Showgo
AU - Shibuya, Akitaka
AU - Shimotohno, Kunitada
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank Ms. Y. Ootsuyama for helpful work and Dr. H. Sekiya for providing partial sera for this study. We also thank Prof. Shibata and Prof. Saigenji of the School of Medicine, Kitasato Univ. for their encouragement throughout this study. This work was supported by a Grant-in-Aid for Cancer Research from the Ministry of Health and Welfare, and a Grant-in-Aid from the Ministry of Health and Welfare for a Comprehensive 10-Year Strategy of Cancer Control, Japan. T.N is a recipient of a Research Resident Fellowship from the Foundation for the Promotion of Cancer Research.
PY - 1994
Y1 - 1994
N2 - We examined 14 patients with hepatitis C caused by infection with the hepatitis C virus-II genotype to understand differences in responsiveness to interferon. The patients were classified into two groups according to their response to interferon: eight responding and six non-responding patients. The 5′ noncoding and structural regions of the hepatitis C virus-II genome from each patient specimen were amplified by reverse transcription followed by the polymerase chain reaction. The nucleotide sequences of these amplified DNAs were then determined. By comparing the nucleotide sequences and the deduced amino acid sequences of samples from both groups, no group-specific sequence was observed in the analyzed regions despite the presence of considerable sequence diversity. However, additional cysteine residues were observed in half the responding group. The degree of micro-heterogeneity in hypervariable region 1 of the hepatitis C virus in relation to the sensitivity to interferon treatment was also examined; however, no significant correlation was observed. In addition, frequent alterations in the amino acid sequences were observed in hypervariable region 1 during the course of interferon treatment.
AB - We examined 14 patients with hepatitis C caused by infection with the hepatitis C virus-II genotype to understand differences in responsiveness to interferon. The patients were classified into two groups according to their response to interferon: eight responding and six non-responding patients. The 5′ noncoding and structural regions of the hepatitis C virus-II genome from each patient specimen were amplified by reverse transcription followed by the polymerase chain reaction. The nucleotide sequences of these amplified DNAs were then determined. By comparing the nucleotide sequences and the deduced amino acid sequences of samples from both groups, no group-specific sequence was observed in the analyzed regions despite the presence of considerable sequence diversity. However, additional cysteine residues were observed in half the responding group. The degree of micro-heterogeneity in hypervariable region 1 of the hepatitis C virus in relation to the sensitivity to interferon treatment was also examined; however, no significant correlation was observed. In addition, frequent alterations in the amino acid sequences were observed in hypervariable region 1 during the course of interferon treatment.
KW - Envelope region
KW - Hepatitis C virus
KW - Hypervariable region
KW - Interferon treatment
KW - Sequence diversity
KW - Sequence variability
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U2 - 10.1016/S0168-8278(05)80350-2
DO - 10.1016/S0168-8278(05)80350-2
M3 - Article
C2 - 7520922
AN - SCOPUS:0028217214
VL - 20
SP - 623
EP - 629
JO - Journal of Hepatology
JF - Journal of Hepatology
SN - 0168-8278
IS - 5
ER -