Khachatoorian R, French SW. Chaperones in hepatitis C virus infection. World J Hepatol 2016; 8(1): 9-35 [PMID: 26783419 DOI: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i1.9]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Samuel W French, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States. sfrench@mednet.ucla.edu
Research Domain of This Article
Virology
Article-Type of This Article
Topic Highlight
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
World J Hepatol. Jan 8, 2016; 8(1): 9-35 Published online Jan 8, 2016. doi: 10.4254/wjh.v8.i1.9
Chaperones in hepatitis C virus infection
Ronik Khachatoorian, Samuel W French
Ronik Khachatoorian, Samuel W French, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
Samuel W French, Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States
Samuel W French, UCLA AIDS Institute, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, Los Angeles, CA 90024, United States
Author contributions: Khachatoorian R conducted an extensive article search, identified all relevant articles, developed the outline of the review article, prepared all the drafts, revised the accepted manuscript, and approved the article to be published; French SW contributed to the design and writing of the manuscript, reviewed and edited the drafts, revised the accepted manuscript, and approved the article to be published.
Supported by NIH R01DK090794, SWF.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflict of interest.
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: Samuel W French, MD, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, David Geffen School of Medicine at University of California, 10833 Le Conte Avenue, Los Angeles, CA 90095, United States. sfrench@mednet.ucla.edu
Telephone: +1-310-2672795 Fax: +1-310-2672058
Received: April 29, 2015 Peer-review started: May 7, 2015 First decision: September 8, 2015 Revised: October 1, 2015 Accepted: December 17, 2015 Article in press: December 18, 2015 Published online: January 8, 2016 Processing time: 253 Days and 4.6 Hours
Abstract
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) infects approximately 3% of the world population or more than 185 million people worldwide. Each year, an estimated 350000-500000 deaths occur worldwide due to HCV-associated diseases including cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. HCV is the most common indication for liver transplantation in patients with cirrhosis worldwide. HCV is an enveloped RNA virus classified in the genus Hepacivirus in the Flaviviridae family. The HCV viral life cycle in a cell can be divided into six phases: (1) binding and internalization; (2) cytoplasmic release and uncoating; (3) viral polyprotein translation and processing; (4) RNA genome replication; (5) encapsidation (packaging) and assembly; and (6) virus morphogenesis (maturation) and secretion. Many host factors are involved in the HCV life cycle. Chaperones are an important group of host cytoprotective molecules that coordinate numerous cellular processes including protein folding, multimeric protein assembly, protein trafficking, and protein degradation. All phases of the viral life cycle require chaperone activity and the interaction of viral proteins with chaperones. This review will present our current knowledge and understanding of the role of chaperones in the HCV life cycle. Analysis of chaperones in HCV infection will provide further insights into viral/host interactions and potential therapeutic targets for both HCV and other viruses.
Core tip: Interaction of viral proteins with host chaperones is critical for the hepatitis C viral (HCV) life cycle. Some of these chaperones, such as cyclophilins have been studied in detail recently and have led to the advent of new therapies for HCV infection with high success rates. Further investigation of the role of chaperones in the viral life cycle may allow for development of novel therapies both for HCV and related viruses.
