丙肝病毒非灵长类同源病毒的研究进展

Research Progress in Non-primate HCV Homologs

丙型肝炎病毒(Hepatitis C virus,HCV)是一种危害人类健康的病原体,感染人体后极易导致慢性肝炎,并能引起肝纤维化或脂肪肝,可能进一步发展成为肝硬化、肝癌等终末期肝病。尽管已被发现20多年,丙肝病毒的来源以及进化途径一直没有确定。与此同时,缺乏合适的动物模型严重阻碍HCV致病机理的研究。从2011年起,随着新型测序技术的应用,多种丙肝非灵长类同源病毒相继被发现,这些研究成果将在研究丙肝病毒来源、进化途径以及相关动物模型建立中起重要作用。

Infection with the hepatitis C virus （HCV） frequently causes chronic viral hepatitis, a major risk factor for the development of cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma or primary liver cancer. The origin of the HCV remains obscure because no closely related animal virus homolog has been identified. Also, ef- forts to understand the pathogenesis of the HCV have been hampered by the absence of small animal mod- els for this human disease. Since 2011, with application of new sequencing technologies, various non-pri- mate HCV homologs have been identified that will play an important part in understanding the origin and evolution of HCV, as well as establishment of related animal models.