title: Human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Vpr increases hepatitis C virus RNA replication in cell culture.
abstract: Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) coinfection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is associated with an increased HCV RNA level, as well as a more rapid progression to cirrhosis and end-stage liver disease. However, the mechanism underlying this effect is largely unknown. Here, we investigated the role of HIV-1 Vpr in HCV infection and clearly demonstrated that Vpr increased the replication of both the infectious HCV full-length genome and the subgenomic replicon. We also demonstrated that Vpr increased HCV infection by enhancing RNA replication but not viral entry or translation. Further, we showed that Vpr could partially overcome the anti-HCV effect of PEG-IFN. Our findings not only partially explain the clinical observation that patients coinfected with HIV and HCV have higher levels of HCV RNA and viral load than HCV mono-infected patients but also provide important information for HCV treatment in HIV/HCV coinfected patients.
authors.affiliation: Research Group of HIV Molecular Epidemiology and Virology, Center for Emerging Infectious Disease, The State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, PR China.
authors.forename: Amei
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Deng
authors.affiliation: Research Group of HIV Molecular Epidemiology and Virology, Center for Emerging Infectious Disease, The State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, PR China.
authors.forename: Chao
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Department of Intractable Diseases, National Center for Global Health and Medicine, 1-21-1 Toyama, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo 162-8655, Japan.
authors.forename: Yukihito
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ishizaka
authors.affiliation: Research Group of HIV Molecular Epidemiology and Virology, Center for Emerging Infectious Disease, The State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, PR China.
authors.forename: Xinwen
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.affiliation: Research Group of HIV Molecular Epidemiology and Virology, Center for Emerging Infectious Disease, The State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, PR China. Electronic address: sunbl@wh.iov.cn.
authors.forename: Binlian
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.affiliation: Research Group of HIV Molecular Epidemiology and Virology, Center for Emerging Infectious Disease, The State Key Laboratory of Virology, Wuhan Institute of Virology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Wuhan, Hubei 430071, PR China. Electronic address: ryang@wh.iov.cn.
authors.forename: Rongge
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D002460:Cell Line; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000821:virology; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology*; D022781:Hepatocytes / Q000821:virology; D006801:Humans; D014776:Virus Cultivation; D014779:Virus Replication; D054325:vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D054325:vpr Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
keywords: Coinfection; Hepatitis C virus; Human immunodeficiency virus; RNA replication; Vpr