I was here first! This is how hepatitis C inhibits hepatitis E
Date:
March 29, 2022
Source:
Ruhr-University Bochum
Summary:
Infections with hepatitis C and E are so common that, going only
by statistics, many people should be infected with both viruses
at the same time. However, only very few such cases have been
reported. A research team has a guess as to why this is the case:
The researchers found that the viruses inhibit each other when
they infect at the same time.
FULL STORY ========================================================================== Infections with hepatitis C and E are so common that, going only by
statistics, many people should be infected with both viruses at the same
time. However, only very few such cases have been reported. A research
team has a guess as to why this is the case: The researchers found that
the viruses inhibit each other when they infect at the same time.
==========================================================================
It is well known that co-infections with hepatitis viruses do
exist. "However, the co-infection of hepatitis C and E has not yet
been systematically researched," says Thomas Burkard. "Even though the possibility always looms that a simultaneous infection with two viruses
could perhaps be particularly dangerous." A single protein suppresses infection In order to find out more about simultaneous infection with the hepatitis C (HCV) and hepatitis E virus (HEV), the researchers infected
liver cells in cell culture with both pathogens in the first step. It
turned out that HCV is able to suppress an infection with hepatitis
E. The team wanted to find out why.
"HCV consists of ten proteins," explains Thomas Burkard. "By producing individual ones in excess, we were able to study their effect." This
allowed the researchers to find that a single viral protein -- called
NS3/4A - - successfully suppressed the replication of hepatitis E viruses
in cell culture. "It seemed that co-infection with both viruses was only possible to a very limited extent," says Thomas Burkard.
Experiments in animal models, however, presented a different pattern: genetically modified mice that have a human liver could become infected
with both viruses. However, the infections proceeded in different
ways depending on which one the mice were exposed to first. If HEV was
present first, HCV could not successfully infect the animals. If HCV was present first, the infection course with HEV was often delayed. "Here,
HCV did not turn out to be as dominant as in cell culture," says Thomas Burkard. In-depth analyses of the liver cells should now shed light on the underlying causes: "Perhaps we will only find islets that are infected
with one or the other virus," speculates the researcher. "In any case,
it is clear that the two viruses affect each other."
========================================================================== Story Source: Materials provided by Ruhr-University_Bochum. Original
written by Meike Driessen. Note: Content may be edited for style and
length.
========================================================================== Journal Reference:
1. Thomas Burkard, Nora Proske, Kathrin Resner, Laura Collignon,
Leonard
Knegendorf, Martina Friesland, Lieven Verhoye, Ibrahim M. Sayed,
Yannick Bru"ggemann, Maximilian K. Nocke, Patrick Behrendt, Heiner
Wedemeyer, Philip Meuleman, Daniel Todt, Eike Steinmann. Viral
Interference of Hepatitis C and E Virus Replication in Novel
Experimental Co-Infection Systems. Cells, 2022; 11 (6): 927 DOI:
10.3390/cells11060927 ==========================================================================
Link to news story:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220329090741.htm
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