A potential targeting gene therapy for developing HCV

Gene therapy has emerged as a novel approach to combat HCV infection in the last few years. However, one of the most important obstacles to overcome is "targeting": the appropriate genes must be delivered and expressed in HCV infected hepatocytes without harming normal tissues. A research article to be published in the World Journal of Gastroenterology on July 7,2009 addresses this question. The research team led by Professor Feng from Central South University cloned the 2'-5'oligoadenylate synthetase (OAS) promoter and investigated its activity in the HCV-core positive liver cells. Since the role of HCV-core protein in modulating OAS gene expression is much controversial, this article further investigate the relationship of HCV-core protein and OAS promoter in human embryo hepatocyte line L02.

They established L02/core cell line that stably expressing HCV-core protein, and demonstrated that HCV core protein activated OAS gene promoter specifically and effectively. Utilization of OAS gene promoter would be an ideal strategy for developing HCV-specific gene therapy.

Source: World Journal of Gastroenterology