title: Hepatitis C virus infection suppresses the interferon response in the liver of the human hepatocyte chimeric mouse.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Recent studies indicate that hepatitis C virus (HCV) can modulate the expression of various genes including those involved in interferon signaling, and up-regulation of interferon-stimulated genes by HCV was reported to be strongly associated with treatment outcome. To expand our understanding of the molecular mechanism underlying treatment resistance, we analyzed the direct effects of interferon and/or HCV infection under immunodeficient conditions using cDNA microarray analysis of human hepatocyte chimeric mice.
  
  
  METHODS
  Human serum containing HCV genotype 1b was injected into human hepatocyte chimeric mice. IFN-α was administered 8 weeks after inoculation, and 6 hours later human hepatocytes in the mouse livers were collected for microarray analysis.
  
  
  RESULTS
  HCV infection induced a more than 3-fold change in the expression of 181 genes, especially genes related to Organismal Injury and Abnormalities, such as fibrosis or injury of the liver (P = 5.90E-16∼3.66E-03). IFN administration induced more than 3-fold up-regulation in the expression of 152 genes. Marked induction was observed in the anti-fibrotic chemokines such as CXCL9, suggesting that IFN treatment might lead not only to HCV eradication but also prevention and repair of liver fibrosis. HCV infection appeared to suppress interferon signaling via significant reduction in interferon-induced gene expression in several genes of the IFN signaling pathway, including Mx1, STAT1, and several members of the CXCL and IFI families (P = 6.0E-12). Genes associated with Antimicrobial Response and Inflammatory Response were also significantly repressed (P = 5.22×10(-10)∼1.95×10(-2)).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results provide molecular insights into possible mechanisms used by HCV to evade innate immune responses, as well as novel therapeutic targets and a potential new indication for interferon therapy.
authors: Division of Frontier Medical Science, Department of Medicine and Molecular Science, Programs for Biomedical Research, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Hiroshima University, Hiroshima, Japan.
authors: Masataka
authors: M
authors: Tsuge
authors: Yoshifumi
authors: Y
authors: Fujimoto
authors: Nobuhiko
authors: N
authors: Hiraga
authors: Yizhou
authors: Y
authors: Zhang
authors: Mayu
authors: M
authors: Ohnishi
authors: Tomohiko
authors: T
authors: Kohno
authors: Hiromi
authors: H
authors: Abe
authors: Daiki
authors: D
authors: Miki
authors: Michio
authors: M
authors: Imamura
authors: Shoichi
authors: S
authors: Takahashi
authors: Hidenori
authors: H
authors: Ochi
authors: C Nelson
authors: CN
authors: Hayes
authors: Fuyuki
authors: F
authors: Miya
authors: Tatsuhiko
authors: T
authors: Tsunoda
authors: Kazuaki
authors: K
authors: Chayama
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002678:Chimera; D004351:Drug Resistance; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000276:immunology*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000276:immunology* / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D057131:Immune Evasion / Q000276:immunology*; D007113:Immunity, Innate; D007372:Interferons / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008099:Liver / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology* / Q000821:virology; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis
chemical_list: D007372:Interferons