How hepatitis C hides in the body

The Hepatitis C (HCV) virus is invisible to the immune system by breaking down communication between the immune cells, it builds virus factories that multiply easily. It takes one to three months from infection to disease, it can lead to liver failure and death. Hepatitis C virus is transmitted through blood and infects the cells in the liver, it is difficult to detect because it does not have symptoms when you get infected.

The virus causes chronic infection that lasts a lifetime. It may take decades before the infection leads to liver failure or cancer, so a lot of people are unaware that they have the virus in their body. They only notice it when they get seriously ill, which may be too late for the treatments that are available. Hepatitis C virus destroys important proteins in the immune system to promote its own growth. The ability to directly manipulate their host cells is the reason some viruses are very harmful to human.

Human cells have a complex inner structure that is divided into different areas, with different sacs that are formed from fatty membranes. Viruses that have the same genetic material as HCV (positively polarized single-stranded RNA) cause major changes in these membrane sacs.

Liver cells infected with HCV had altered membrane sacs. To study whether the IRGM protein caused the changes, researchers employed the CRISPR-Cas system, a technique that is used for regulating cells, in this case to turn off the IRGM protein in the liver cells. When the IRGM is removed from the liver cells, the virus is unable to grow.

The reason for this is that the hepatitis C virus utilizes some of the cells, called the Golgi apparatus, where the protein IRGM has an important function. The Golgi apparatus is a kind of transport centre in the cells. It packs proteins into small sacs called vesicles and sends them where they need to go within the cell, or out to other cells.

The hepatitis C virus utilizes this to build its virus factories by taking over and redirecting these vesicles with the necessary building blocks to the site where the factories are being built. These vesicles are rich in lipids that the virus is entirely dependent on to anchor its factory construction.

When this protein is removed, the virus is no longer able to infiltrate the Golgi apparatus and thus it can't build up its secret network of virus factories. Hepatitis C is transmitted via the blood. Infection is spread primarily through unclean syringes, non-sterilized medical devices, or unsafe blood transfusions.
HVC can also be passed on from mother to child, and through bodily fluids.
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HIV and intestinal mucosa

Researchers have discovered a new method of slow viral replication in the gastrointestinal tract of HIV patients.
This can leads to a new therapeutic method of HIV treatment, Antiretroviral Therapy ART improves the control of viral replication in HIV-infected persons and preventing complications associated with chronic infection.

The use of antiretroviral decreases viral loads to undetectable blood levels, and is effective in preventing evolution of the infection towards acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. In spite of the effectiveness of antivirals, HIV hides in the CD4 T cells, which harbour the virus and form viral reservoirs in various peripheral tissues, particularly in the gastrointestinal tract.

Some viral organisms continue to replicate in the reservoir, causing harmful inflammation in the gut. The new method of treatment will modify CD4 T cells that will move from the blood to the gut. Molecule that stimulates HIV replication in CD4 T cells are located in the gut, researchers used drug to block this replication and decrease inflammation of the intestinal mucosa.

Using biopsies of the sigmoid colon and blood of HIV-infected persons on ART therapy, researchers discovered that in the colon, the CD4 T cells which express the CCR6 postal code also contain a large amount of another molecule called mTOR, an important regulator of metabolic mechanisms.

The mTOR molecule is responsible for the high vulnerability to HIV of the CD4 T lymphocytes expressing CCR6 and residing in the gut. Interfering with mTOR activity during in-vitro experiments with existing medications, researchers have been able to significantly reduce HIV replication in the cells of HIV-infected patients whose viral load was undetectable.
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