Virology: Equine hepatitis viruses and hepatitis C

Date:
March 2, 2022
Source:
Ruhr-University Bochum
Summary:
As of today, there is no vaccine against hepatitis C. To improve the
search for it, researchers are looking for a so-called surrogate
model: an animal that can also suffer from viral hepatitis and
whose course of infection allows conclusions about the behavior of
the hepatitis C virus in humans. They found what they were looking
for in the horse.



FULL STORY ==========================================================================
As of today, there is no vaccine against hepatitis C. To improve the
search for it, researchers are looking for a so-called surrogate model:
an animal that can also suffer from viral hepatitis and whose course
of infection allows conclusions about the behavior of the hepatitis C
virus in humans. They found what they were looking for in the horse.


========================================================================== Virus escapes the immune system More than 70 million people worldwide
are infected with hepatitis C. The disease is treatable, but it is often
not recognised. In 80 per cent of cases, it takes chronic courses and can
lead to liver damage and even liver cancer. So far, there is no effective vaccine. "The reason why the disease often doesn't clear up is that
the virus is constantly changing and thus escapes the immune system,"
explains Dr. Daniel Todt from the RUB Virology Department. "The immune
system forms antibodies that always lag behind the virus for a while
and have the ability to combat a variant that was in the body about two
weeks before." This evolution of the virus within the host is therefore
of particular interest to the researchers.

To date, there have been no suitable models to deal with these questions
in animal experiments. In their quest for a so-called surrogate model
for research into the human hepatitis C virus, the scientists analysed
samples from horses that were taken in cooperation with the University
of Veterinary Medicine Hannover (TiHo). "If you compare hepatitis viruses
that can infect different species, it is striking that the human virus and
the virus that is infectious for horses are genetically close relatives," explains Andre' Go"mer, PhD student at the TiHo Research Training Group
VIPER and lead author of the paper.

The researchers analysed the surface proteins of viruses from humans
and horses in the course of infection and compared the results.

A better understanding of the virus' tactics "In the horse virus,
a region that we call hypervariable is missing," explains Go"mer. It
changes particularly quickly and protects an area of the virus that
helps it infect host cells. This could be one reason why the infection
in horses, unlike in humans, is rarely chronic. "These findings help us
to better understand the tactics of the hepatitis C virus and to find
out which areas of the virus are the most relevant," says Todt. The
equine hepatitis virus infection of horses could represent a powerful
model to gain insights into hepaciviral evolution and hepatitis C virus
immune evasion.

========================================================================== 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. Andre' Go"mer, Richard J P Brown, Stephanie Pfaender, Katja
Deterding,
Ga'bor Reuter, Richard Orton, Stefan Seitz, C- Thomas Bock, Jessika
M V Cavalleri, Thomas Pietschmann, Heiner Wedemeyer, Eike Steinmann,
Daniel Todt. Intra-host analysis of hepaciviral glycoprotein
evolution reveals signatures associated with viral persistence
and clearance. Virus Evolution, 2022; 8 (1) DOI: 10.1093/ve/veac007 ==========================================================================

Link to news story: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2022/03/220302110636.htm

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