Hepatitis C virus: Morphogenesis, infection and therapy

Core Tip

Core tip: Brief overviews on epidemiology of hepatitis C virus (HCV), virus morphology and the virus life cycle are presented. A special attention was focused on in vitro and in vivo models that are currently used to study the HCV infection. In fact, extensive use of existing models and creating a new ones is a way to reveal important events in the virus-cell interaction. In particular, the models might shed light on the mechanisms behind virus induced pathogenesis and chronicity, and by that contribute to the development of new drugs and prophylactic vaccine. Recently, multiple therapies with a pan-genotypic activity appeared on the market. The new agents (third generation) and new inhibitors (entry inhibitors, release inhibitors) being studied, should allow to cure most of the patients in the mid-term, if they will have equal access to the therapy.