Hydroxyurea as an inhibitor of hepatitis C virus RNA replication

• Published in: Archives of virology Vol. 155; no. 4; pp. 601 - 605
• Main Authors: Nozaki, Akito, Morimoto, Manabu, Kondo, Masaaki, Oshima, Takashi, Numata, Kazushi, Fujisawa, Shin, Kaneko, Takeshi, Miyajima, Eiji, Morita, Satoshi, Mori, Kyoko, Ikeda, Masanori, Kato, Nobuyuki, Tanaka, Katsuaki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Vienna Vienna : Springer Vienna 01.04.2010; Springer Vienna; Springer; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Antiviral Agents - pharmacology; Biological and medical sciences; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Biomedicine; Brief Report; Cell Line; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Genes, Reporter; Genomes; Genotype & phenotype; Hepacivirus - drug effects; Hepatitis C; Hepatitis C virus; Hepatocytes - virology; Humans; Hydroxyurea - pharmacology; Infectious Diseases; Interferon-alpha - pharmacology; Liver cancer; Liver cirrhosis; Luciferases - metabolism; Medical Microbiology; Microbiology; Miscellaneous; RNA, Viral - biosynthesis; Students; Virology; Virus Replication - drug effects; Viruses; United States > US; Japan; Internal Ribosome Entry Site; Human Immunodeficiency Virus Inhibition; Virus; Replication; Hydroxycarbamide; Flaviviridae; Hepatitis C virus; Hepacivirus
• ISSN: 0304-8608; 1432-8798
• DOI: 10.1007/s00705-010-0624-1

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the main causative agent of chronic liver disease, which may develop into liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. By using a recently developed reporter assay system in which genome-length HCV RNA replicates efficiently, we found that hydroxyurea (HU), a DNA synthesis inhibitor, inhibited HCV RNA replication. Moreover, we demonstrated that the anti-HCV activity of the combination of IFN-alpha and HU was higher than that of IFN-alpha alone. These results suggest that HU may be an effective anti-HCV reagent that can be used not only singly but also in combination with IFN-alpha to treat chronic hepatitis C.