发现犬丙型肝炎病毒为致命人类病原体的研究开辟了新的门

本周在线发布的研究国家科学院的诉讼程序，研究人员报告了在狗中发现了一种新型丙型肝炎样病毒。这种病毒的鉴定和表征使科学家们对人类的乙型肝炎可能已经发展的新洞察力，并提供科学家们更新希望开发模型系统来研究它如何引起疾病。该研究进行了感染和免疫中心（CII）在哥伦比亚大学的邮递员公共卫生学院，爱丁堡大学，乙型肝炎和辉瑞医学研究中心。人丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）影响全球约2亿人。根据疾病控制和预防的中心（CDC），美国的320万人是长期感染。这些患者的大多数患者不知道他们正在携带病毒，从而用作其他人的感染源。HCV，可导致肝病和肝癌，最常见于大量或重复接触感染血液。使用注射药物的人;是艾滋病毒阳性的;或者是受感染的母亲的孩子患有最高的感染风险。犬丙型肝炎病毒（CHV）的发现标志着非人类原始化物中的肝炎的一种感染实例，并表明病毒可能通过与狗或其他相关物种超过500年的其他相关物种引入人口中的病毒以前，狗的驯化后很久。 CHV belongs to a group of viruses known as hepaciviruses, which also includes GBV-B, a virus that causes hepatitis in tamarins, small monkeys from Central and South America. Among these viruses, HCV is most closely related to its canine counterpart, a finding that surprised first author Dr. Amit Kapoor, an investigator in the Center for Infection and Immunity and assistant professor of Pathology. “Considering the origin of HIV,” Dr. Kapoor explains, “we expected to find the closest homologs, or genetic relatives, of HCV in non-human primates. However, while we were analyzing samples from dogs involved in outbreaks of respiratory disease, we came upon a virus that was more similar to HCV than other viruses of the same family. So far, we have only detected CHV in sick animals, a few of which had died of unknown causes. Because of its close genetic similarity to HCV, we suggested the name of canine hepacivirus.” According to Dr. Charles Rice, Scientific and Executive Director of the丙型肝炎研究中心在洛克菲勒大学和参与研究的合作者之一，“HCV的起源仍然是一个谜。这些调查结果强调了超越灵长素的需要，以便为HCV的起源的线索。“病毒毒蛇病，从动物传播给人类的感染，占人类新出现的传染病的约70％。虽然物种之间的传输是罕见的，但随着时间的推移持续接触可以增加对感染人类的​​病毒的可能性会发展。自从他们在大约10,000年前的驯化以来，狗一直在闭上人类同伴。人类和狗是否被另一种物种独立感染祖先病毒，或者是否感染了人类（或反之亦然）不能从这项研究中确定。没有目前的风险狗可以用HCV或CHV感染人类。Using a sequencing platform provided by Roche 454 Life Sciences and state-of-the-art-molecular techniques, Dr. Kapoor, together with scientists at the University of Edinburg, The Rockefeller University and Pfizer, determined that like HCV, CHV’s genome contained RNA secondary structures called GORS that allow viruses to chronically infect their natural hosts. Moreover, the sequence of genes that encode proteins involved in virus infection and replication were very similar between HCV and CHV. Until recently, studies into how hepatitis C causes disease in humans have been limited by the lack of animal and cell culture models. According to CII Director Dr. Ian Lipkin, “The identification and characterization of CHV signals the advent of a new tractable animal model for hepatitis C. This discovery provides new tools for understanding how this virus causes disease, and will facilitate drug and vaccine research and development.” Read the coverage in美国新闻与世界报告那研究人员在狗中找到了甲型肝炎病毒的堂兄