HCV part 1 Flashcards
How did people discover hep c
In the 1980s large numbers of hepatitis patients began to appear, apparently with a virally caused disease
* When examined, patients tested negative for both hepatitis A and B
* HCV, the etiologic agent of non-A, non-B hepatitis, was discovered by Michael Houghton and investigators at Chiron, Inc.
true or false: it was hard to discover hep c and which techniques were used
-true
- cdna, phages for e.coli, expressed the modified phage that had the cdna in them
which virus is responsible for 40-60% of the chronic liver disease
Hep C
True or false: Hep C is the leading cause of liver transfer
treu
how do you get hep c
- Blood transfusion
- Injecting drug use
- High-risk sexual activity
- Other
- Health-care workers
- Hemodialysis
- Mother-to-child (low)
- Unknown
- Household exposures/accidental injuries
- Cocaine use
Diagnosis of hcv
- Not part of a standard STD panel
- Serology (enzyme immunosorbent assay)
- Look for anti-HCV antibodies in the blood (once
exposed to infection) - > 95% of chronically infected patients
- Viral genome copies (qPCR)
- Look for viral RNA in the blood (active infection)
- genotyping
- Assess degree of liver damage
- Serum liver enzyme elevation (liver health);
Fibroscan (Liver inflammation/fibrosis)
what is the incubation pereod of acude hepatitis
6-10 weeks
True or false: 80% people with acute HCV will have no symptoms
true
symptoms of acute hepatitis, clearance rate
Symptoms can include:
- Pain in the upper right quadrant,
anorexia, abdominal pain, nausea,
vomiting, fever, fatigue, and jaundice
(25%)
* Approximately 15% will clear the infection
* 85% will develop chronic HCV
True or false: chronic hepatitis can last your whole life
true
what happens to your liver when you have chronic hepatitis
- Cirrhosis (scar tissue) and liver failure (10-20%)
- Hepatocellular Carcinoma (liver cancer, 3-5%)
- Typically clinical symptoms appear during liver failure
- 20 yrs may elapse between infection and the development of serious complications
HCV genome
- 9.6 kb, (+) sense, ssRNA virus
- Single long open reading frame (~3000 aa polyprotein)
- cleaved by host and viral proteases into the 10 mature viral proteins
-has IRES, kissing loop and a pseudi knot
What are the 2 models for LVPs of HCV
-lvp: lipoviral particles
-two particle model: it interacts with more than one apo protein: LDL and HDL
-single particles: the most accurate, interacts with one lipoprotein
HCV entry
Receptors: CD81, CLDN-1, OCLN
* Co-receptors/co-factors: GAGs, LDLR, SR-BI
* Lipoproteins play a prominent role in entry (i.e. LVPs)
* Clathrin-mediated endocytosis
true or false: HCV is capped
false it is not
