Journal of Antivirals & Antiretrovirals
Open Access
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
ISSN: 1948-5964
+44 1300 500008
Virendra N Pandey, Nootan Pandey and Alok Upadhyay
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: JAA
Chronic infection by Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the leading cause of severe hepatitis which oft en develops into liver cirrhosis (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). HCV preferentially replicates in hepatocytes without any direct cytopathic eff ect and thus able to maintain persistent chronic infection. Th e molecular mechanisms underlying HCV replication and pathogenesis are poorly understood. Similarly, the role(s) of host factors in the HCV replication and associated pathogenesis remain undefi ned. It is likely that a number of cellular factors may be involved in facilitating HCV replication and establishing chronic infection and its subsequent progression to LC and HCC. However, the identity of cellular factors interacting with HCV RNA genome is largely unknown. Recently a number of cellular proteins interacting with in vitro transcribed HCV 3?NTR have been affi nity captured and identifi ed by LC/MS/ MS; some of these proteins were found to be critical for HCV replication as validated by siRNA (Harris et al., 2006). A more direct approach would be to capture the replicating HCV RNA genome in situ and identify all the associated cellular and viral factors. Th e structured HCV genome and the interplay of tightly regulated viral and host factors assembled on it should be highly specifi c and relevant. In the present talk, we present a novel strategy for capturing the replicating HCV genome in situ from HCV infected cells and identifying all the associated cellular/viral factors by state-of-the-art proteomics technology.
Dr. Virendra Pandey received his Ph.D. in 1985 from the University of Mumbai at Bhabha Atomic Research Center (BARC), India. He served as a Senior Scientifi c Offi cer at BARC until 1994 and received the prestigious Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Award in 1991 from the Prime Minister of India for his research contribution in Life Sciences. He joined UMDNJ-New Jersey Medical School in 1994 and currently a tenured senior faculty in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. He has published more than 75 research articles in reputed journals and has received uninterrupted research funding from NIH far the past 14 years.