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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2016. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jan 28, 2016; 22(4): 1477-1486
Published online Jan 28, 2016. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v22.i4.1477
Host restriction factors for hepatitis C virus
Li-Ya Zhou, Lei-Liang Zhang
Li-Ya Zhou, Lei-Liang Zhang, MOH Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100176, China
Author contributions: Zhou LY and Zhang LL analyzed the literature and wrote the manuscript.
Supported by National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81271832 and No. 81471955 to Zhang LL.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no competing financial interests.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Lei-Liang Zhang, PhD, MOH Key Laboratory of Systems Biology of Pathogens, Institute of Pathogen Biology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, No. 9, Dongdan Santiao, Dongcheng District, Beijing 100730, China. armzhang@hotmail.com
Telephone: +86-10-67837355 Fax: +86-10-67837132
Received: April 28, 2015
Peer-review started: May 5, 2015
First decision: September 11, 2015
Revised: September 30, 2015
Accepted: November 13, 2015
Article in press: November 13, 2015
Published online: January 28, 2016
Processing time: 267 Days and 1.1 Hours
Abstract

Host-hepatitis C virus (HCV) interactions have both informed fundamental concepts of viral replication and pathogenesis and provided novel insights into host cell biology. These findings are illustrated by the recent discovery of host-encoded factors that restrict HCV infection. In this review, we briefly discuss these restriction factors in different steps of HCV infection. In each case, we discuss how these restriction factors were identified, the mechanisms by which they inhibit HCV infection and their potential contribution to viral pathogenesis.

Keywords: Hepatitis C virus; Host restriction factor; Interferon; Entry; Replication; Propagation

Core tip: Hepatitis C is a liver disease caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV), which chronically infects approximately 130-150 million people. The ultimate outcome of HCV infection depends on host-viral interactions. Host cells encode multiple proteins to suppress HCV infection, known as host restriction factors. In this review, we will summarize the host restriction factors in different steps of the HCV life cycle. The possible mechanisms of the host restriction factors will also be discussed.