The research result about new cell infection model of HCV (Hepatitis C virus) revealed by research group led by Long Gang from Institute Pasteur of Shanghai of Chinese Academy of Sciences has been published on Journal of Virology on Nov 16^th, 2016, titled as “Visualizing the Essential Role of Complete Virion Assembly Machinery in Efficient Hepatitis C Virus Cell-to-Cell Transmission by Viral Infection Activated Split-Intein Mediated Reporter System (VISI)”. This paper has been rated as a featured article on current magazines.

There are almost 2%~3% HCV infected people among the global population. Meanwhile, the HCV infection is also one of the major causes of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and HCC (hepatocellular carcinoma). The traditional treatment is a combination of the drugs pegylated interferons and ribavirin. However the recovery rate is low. The new listed DAA (direct antiviral agents) has a higher recovery rate. But the high expense and possible drug-resistant have limited the widespread use of DAA. So the virology research and vaccine development of HCV are still one of the focus of many scholars.

In 2010, the team of Charles M Rice established the cell infection model HDFR system （HCV-dependent fluorescence relocation）. It has firstly achieved the real-time monitoring of HCV infection without the modifying the HCV genome. This method is simple in operation. It can determine the infected cell by directly observing the transfer of fluorescence signal from the cytoplasm to the nucleus. But this method has a high fluorescent background (cytoplasmic fluorescence). So when the MOI infection is low, it is difficult to find the infected cell quickly.

In order to relieve the fluorescent background of the method above and being observed conveniently, the research group has constructed a new kind of cell infection model VISI system（viral infection activated split-intein mediated reporter system）. This model is a new type of efficient and specific HCV infection cell model. It not only provides the convenience for HCV virology research, but also provides the new ideas for the cell model construction of other virus.

Time: 2017-01-20

Source: Institute Pasteur of Shanghai