Replication of Subgenomic Hepatitis C Virus RNAs in a Hepatoma Cell Line
V. Lohmann,
1
F. Körner,
1
J.-O. Koch,
1
U. Herian,
1
L. Theilmann,
2
R. Bartenschlager
1*
An estimated 170 million persons worldwide are infected
with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a major cause of chronic liver
disease. Despite increasing knowledge of genome structure and
individual viral proteins, studies on virus replication and
pathogenesis have been hampered by the lack of reliable and efficient
cell culture systems. A full-length consensus genome was cloned from viral RNA isolated from an infected human liver and used to construct subgenomic selectable replicons. Upon transfection into a human hepatoma cell line, these RNAs were found to replicate to high levels,
permitting metabolic radiolabeling of viral RNA and proteins. This work
defines the structure of HCV replicons functional in cell culture and
provides the basis for a long-sought cellular system that should allow
detailed molecular studies of HCV and the development of antiviral
drugs.
1 Institute for Virology, Johannes-Gutenberg
University Mainz, Obere Zahlbacher Strasse 67, 55131 Mainz, Germany.
2 Städtisches Klinikum Pforzheim, Medizinische
Klinik II, 75116 Pforzheim, Germany.
*
To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail:
bartnsch{at}mail.uni-mainz.de
