By using single-antibodies, Professor Hirohide Saito (Department of Life Science Frontiers) and his team of researchers, Shodai Komatsu and Assistant Professor Hirohisa Ohno, have developed a novel system to control gene ...
Biotechnology
Nov 20, 2023
0
18
A protein from a heat-loving bacterium allows specific detection of SARS-CoV-2 and other viruses in a one-pot assay based on RT-LAMP technology. This test could simplify point-of-care diagnoses of COVID-19 and other infections.
Biotechnology
Jul 5, 2022
0
27
Scientists at Swansea University, Biovici Ltd and the National Physical Laboratory have developed a method to detect viruses in very small volumes.
Bio & Medicine
May 12, 2022
0
42
Viruses such as HIV or the pathogen that causes hepatitis C can overwhelm the immune system. One approach to developing vaccines for these chronic infections has until now been aimed exclusively at what are known as the memory ...
Cell & Microbiology
Dec 13, 2021
0
12
An FDA-approved drug for hepatitis C can increase bacterial sensitivity to antibiotics and reduce the likelihood of antibiotic resistance, according to a new study led by New York University researchers published in Cell ...
Biochemistry
Nov 23, 2021
0
97
Sarbecoviruses have crossed into humans twice in the last decade, leading to the deadly SARS-CoV-1 outbreak in 2002-04 and the current COVID-19 pandemic, caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. A new Oxford University study, published ...
Evolution
Sep 3, 2021
2
2050
Researchers at the National Institutes of Health have discovered a biological pathway that the novel coronavirus appears to use to hijack and exit cells as it spreads through the body. A better understanding of this important ...
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 29, 2020
0
381
Researchers from North Carolina State University and Collaborations Pharmaceuticals have created a free-to-use database of 14,000 known macrolactones—large molecules used in drug development—which contains information ...
Materials Science
Apr 21, 2020
0
89
Small differences in a liver cell protein have significant impacts on hepatitis C virus replication in mice and humans, findings that could facilitate the development of a mouse model of the infection. The report, led by ...
Molecular & Computational biology
May 10, 2019
0
42
Large swaths of DNA and its lesser-known cousin RNA are dotted by chemical tags that act like Post-It notes, providing additional instructions to the underlying genetic code.
Cell & Microbiology
Oct 20, 2016
0
10
Hepatitis C is an infectious disease affecting the liver, caused by the hepatitis C virus (HCV). The infection is often asymptomatic, but once established, chronic infection can progress to scarring of the liver (fibrosis), and advanced scarring (cirrhosis) which is generally apparent after many years. In some cases, those with cirrhosis will go on to develop liver failure or other complications of cirrhosis, including liver cancer.
The hepatitis C virus (HCV) is spread by blood-to-blood contact. Most people have few, if any symptoms after the initial infection, yet the virus persists in the liver in about 85% of those infected. Persistent infection can be treated with medication, peginterferon and ribavirin being the standard-of-care therapy. Only 51% are cured overall. Those who develop cirrhosis or liver cancer may require a liver transplant, and the virus universally recurs after transplantation.
An estimated 270-300 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C. Hepatitis C is a strictly human disease. It cannot be contracted from or given to any animal. Chimpanzees can be infected with the virus in the laboratory, but do not develop the disease, which has made research more difficult. No vaccine against hepatitis C is available. The existence of hepatitis C (originally "non-A non-B hepatitis") was postulated in the 1970s and proved conclusively in 1989. It is one of five known hepatitis viruses: A, B, C, D, and E.
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