NF-ĸB 신호전달 활성을 통한 Hepatitis C virus core 의 세포 자연사 억제 기작에 대한 연구 = The core protein of hepatitis C virus inhibits apoptosis through activation of NF-ĸB signaling

다국어 초록 (Multilingual Abstract)

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of major agents for liver diseases including chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma in human. Several studies have documented the important association between HCV infection and hepatocellular carcinoma, however, the mechanisms involved are still unknown. Apoptosis plays a critical role to maintain cellular homeostasis both in physiological and pathological conditions. Many viruses encode regulatory or structural proteins, which regulate apoptosis mechanism to escape from host defense mechanism. In particular, the HCV core protein can modulate apoptosis by both proapoptotic or antiapoptotic action, whereas both the NS3 and the NS5A proteins have antiapoptotic effects. In this study, we examined the role of HCV core protein whether it can activate NF-κB signal leading to antiapoptotic process or not. These studies suggest that HCV core protein activates NF-κB signals through increasing the amount of functional NF-κB homodimers or heterodimers in vivo. To further examine the role of HCV core protein in apoptosis process, the full-length of HCV core proteins were expressed and cells were assayed for apoptotic response. The inhibitory effect of apoptosis by HCV core protein may result in HCV persistence and development of hepatocellular carcinoma.