摘要
This year's Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to three scientists,each of whom played an integral role in the identification of the hepatitis C virus(HCV)and the characterization of the disease it causes,chronic hepatitis C(CHC).Initially Dr.Harvey Alter,a hematologist at the Clinical Center of the National Institutes of Health in Bethesda,Maryland recognized that there were many cases of post-transfusion hepatitis,unrelated to hepatitis A virus(HAV)or hepatitis B virus(HBV),termed non-A,non-B hepatitis.Dr.Michael Houghton,a microbiologist working at a small biotechnology company,Chiron in Emeryville,California,identified HCV as the causative agent of non-A,non-B hepatitis.After discovery of the HCV,Dr.Charles Rice,at Rockefeller University,New Yorkworked on constructing a replication competent clone of the virus thatwas later used to demonstrate that theHCV alone was indeed the cause of CHC.
