BIOQUIMICA

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem with 170 million chronically infected people throughout the world. Currently, the only treatment available consists of a combination of pegylated interferon (INF-alpha) and ribavirin, but only half of the patients treated show a sufficient antiviral response. Thus there is a great need for the development of new treatments for HCV infections. RNA interference (RNAi) represents a new promising approach to develop effective antiviral drugs and has been extremely effective against HCV gene expression in short-term cell culture. Our aim was to determine the effect of RNAi directed against the NS5B-HCV region on HCV expression in a human hepatoma cell line that expresses HCV-subgenomic replicon (Huh7 HCV replicon cells). We transfected Huh7 HCV replicon cells with different concentrations of RNAi (100-200 nM) targeting the NS5B region of the viral genome. 2-6 days post-transfection HCV-RNA was quantified by semiquantitative and rea...

Information about HCV genotypes in infected patients from different regions of Mexico is limited. To determine the prevalence of HCV genotypes in a group of HCV infected patients who attended a third level Hospital in Northeast of Mexico. Genotyping analysis was performed using the InnoLiPA-HCV genotype assay in 147 patients (65 males and 82 females, mean age 44 +/- 12 years) with positive anti-HCV antibodies and detectable HCV-RNA levels. Infected individuals were more likely to be female (56%). Histological data showed that 63% of the patients had chronic hepatitis, while the remainder presented cirrhosis (37%). The most frequent HCV genotype was 1 (73%). We found the following distribution: genotype 1 (2.7%), 1a (28.6%), 1b (37.4%), 1a/1b (4.1%), 2a (1.4%), 2b (8.8%), 2c (0.7%), 2a/2c (2.7%), 3 (2%), 3a (10.2%), 4 (0.7%) and 4c (0.7%). The most frequent associated risk factor was blood transfusion (72.5%). Prevalence of HCV genotypes in the Northeast of Mexico is similar to those...