title: The role of HCV proteins on treatment outcomes.
abstract: For many years, the standard of treatment for hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection was a combination of pegylated interferon alpha (Peg-IFN-α) and ribavirin for 24-48 weeks. This treatment regimen results in a sustained virologic response (SVR) rate in about 50% of cases. The failure of IFN-α-based therapy to eliminate HCV is a result of multiple factors including a suboptimal treatment regimen, severity of HCV-related diseases, host factors and viral factors. In recent years, advances in HCV cell culture have contributed to a better understanding of the viral life cycle, which has led to the development of a number of direct-acting antiviral agents (DAAs) that target specific key components of viral replication, such as HCV NS3/4A, HCV NS5A, and HCV NS5B proteins. To date, several new drugs have been approved for the treatment of HCV infection. Application of DAAs with IFN-based or IFN-free regimens has increased the SVR rate up to >90% and has allowed treatment duration to be shortened to 12-24 weeks. The impact of HCV proteins in response to IFN-based and IFN-free therapies has been described in many reports. This review summarizes and updates knowledge on molecular mechanisms of HCV proteins involved in anti-IFN activity as well as examining amino acid variations and mutations in several regions of HCV proteins associated with the response to IFN-based therapy and pattern of resistance associated amino acid variants (RAV) to antiviral agents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand. kumthipk@yahoo.com.
authors.forename: Kattareeya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Kumthip
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology, Faculty of Medicine, Chiang Mai University, Chiang Mai, 50200, Thailand. niwat.m@cmu.ac.th.
authors.forename: Niwat
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Maneekarn
mesh_terms: D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D024882:Drug Resistance, Viral; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000187:drug effects*; D019698:Hepatitis C, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000821:virology*; D006801:Humans; D016896:Treatment Outcome; D014764:Viral Proteins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D014764:Viral Proteins