Chapter 10: Hepatitis C Virus

VALVA PAMELA; LORENZETTI MARIO ALEJANDRO; PRECIADO MARIA VICTORIA

Chronic Liver Disease: From Molecular Biology to Therapy

Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Lugar: Nueva York; Año: 2016; p. 100 - 110

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a small, enveloped, 9.6 kb positive strand RNA virus that belongs to the genus Hepacivirus within the Flaviviridae family. Hepatitis related to HCV is a progressive disease that may result in chronic active hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Since it is estimated that about 200 million individuals are chronically infected with HCV and there is no available vaccine, the virus represents serious global health problem. Although direct-acting antiviral agents were recently approved and made available and that more drugs are in the pipeline, patients response to the current standards of care therapy (pegylated interferon?α and ribavirin) is limited. Given this fact, and since the liver is the major site of HCV replication, liver failure arising because of HCV infection is one of the most common reasons for the organ transplant. Its high replicative activity, together with the lack of proof-reading activity of the viral RNA dependent RNA polymerase, are the basis of the high genetic variability of HCV, as well as of the high degree of intra-host genetic diversity. HCV isolates are classified into