Hep C virus
Feb 9, 2009 by Mike
Hep C Bypasses Cell Defenses By Slipping Directly From Cell To Cell
University of Birmingham researchers recently told a Glasgow conference that the potentially fatal hepatitis C virus evades the body's natural defenses by slipping directly from cell to cell which might explain the rapid spread of the virus in some patients.
"Viruses spread by entering cells, then replicating themselves, with large numbers of copies of the virus bursting out of the cell to start the process again".
It had been thought that Hepatitis C was lacking this ability but the Birmingham research, using liver tumor cells infected with the virus, now suggests that it does.
"Cell to cell transmission" allows the virus to bypass some of the body's most potent defense systems and antibodies can only attack outside the cell".
This finding will be a huge disappointment for scientists who had hoped that boosting the antibody's defenses would stop the virus in its tracks and it means that treatments aimed at interrupting its progress won't work as well as hoped.
Dr. Jennifer Timpe, who presented the research to the International Symposium on Hepatitis C Virus in Glasgow, said: "This is probably why it has been so tricky to tackle. Finding that Hep C uses multiple mechanisms for spreading around the body was not great news, but this discovery will allow those of us working in this area to move ahead with a better understanding of the virus. We will have to up our game and find other ways of tackling this relentless virus."
A spokesman for the British Liver Trust said: "Gaining a better understanding of the virus will certainly go some way into the development of treatment for hepatitis C patients and something which is desperately needed. At the moment approximately one in five people with a chronic infection of hepatitis C develop severe liver damage which can lead to liver cancer or liver failure and the need for liver transplantation".