GALVESTON, Texas, April 23 (UPI) -- U.S. scientists have found the dissimilar hepatitis A and C viruses attack the same protein to block the body's immune defenses.
Despite both infecting the liver, the two viruses are far apart genetically, are transmitted differently and produce very different diseases. Hepatitis A spreads through the consumption of fecal particles from an infected person, while hepatitis C is generally transmitted only by direct contact with infected blood.
But researchers at the University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston have found the two viruses both avoid destruction by the immune system by attacking the same protein.
"With 30,000-plus proteins in the cell, it's really remarkable that these two very different viruses have chosen to strike at the same one," said Dr. Stanley Lemon, senior author the study. "This identifies the protein -- called MAVS, for mitochondrial antiviral signaling protein -- as extremely important for the survival of any virus in the liver."
The study appears online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
