New culture method for hepatitis C created

SEATTLE, Jan. 23 (UPI) -- U.S. medical scientists have devised a hepatitis C virus culture system that might lead to a new understanding of the illness.

University of Washington School of Medicine researchers created a virus culture system that allows replication of patient-isolated virus in non-transformed hepatocytes, instead of culture-adapted virus strains in transformed cell lines.

Hepatitis C virus infection affects approximately 170 million people worldwide and is the main reason for liver transplantation in much of the United States.

Study of hepatitis C virus replication within liver cells, or hepatocytes, has been hampered by a lack of adequate virus culture systems. But Nelson Fausto and colleagues crossed that hurdle using a human fetal hepatocyte culture system that was previously developed in his lab.

The scientists have demonstrated sustained replication and production of virus particles for at least 2 months, with the virus particles able to infect new cells.

The researchers say the new method, allowing infection by patient serum containing a wide array of virus strains, might allow better understanding of the differences between different strains, further improving treatment strategies.

The research appears in the February issue of The American Journal of Pathology.