New Gene Therapy To Combat HCV Infection

A research article to be published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology on July 7,2009 addresses this question. The research team led by Professor Feng from Central South University cloned the 2'-5'oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) promoter and investigated its activity in the HCV-core positive liver cells.

Since the role of HCV-core protein in modulating OAS gene expression is much controversial, this article further investigate the relationship of HCV-core protein and OAS promoter in human embryo hepatocyte line L02.

They established L02/core cell line that stably expressing HCV-core protein, and demonstrated that HCV core protein activated OAS gene promoter specifically and effectively. Utilization of OAS gene promoter would be an ideal strategy for developing HCV-specific gene therapy.

By World Journal of Gastroenterology