Year: 2011
Type: article
Abstract: An estimated 3% of the world's population is chronically infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV). Although HCV was discovered more than 20 y ago, its origin remains obscure largely because no closely related animal virus homolog has been identified; furthermore, efforts to understand HCV pathogenesis have been hampered by the absence of animal models other than chimpanzees for human disease. Here we report the identification in domestic dogs of a nonprimate hepacivirus. Comparative phylogenetic analysis of the canine hepacivirus (CHV) confirmed it to be the most genetically similar animal virus homolog of HCV. Bayesian Markov chains Monte Carlo and associated time to most recent common ancestor analyses suggest a mean recent divergence time of CHV and HCV clades within the past 500-1,000 y, well after the domestication of canines. The discovery of CHV may provide new insights into the origin and evolution of HCV and a tractable model system with which to probe the pathogenesis, prevention, and treatment of diseases caused by hepacivirus infection.
Authors: Amit Kapoor, Peter Simmonds, Gisa Gerold, Natasha Qaisar, Komal Jain, Jose A. Henriquez, Cadhla Firth, David L. Hirschberg, Charles M. Rice, Shelly Shields, W. Ian Lipkin
Language: English
Topic: Hepatitis C virus research
Subfield: Hepatology
Field: Medicine
Domain: Health Sciences
Open Access status: bronze
Awards: Molecular Characterization of Novel Astroviruses, Simianizing hepatitis C: Defining the species-tropism of a hepatotropic virus, Viral Arrays for Biodefense, Identification and characterization of cellular factors involved in HCV entry, Risk of Viral Emergence from Bats, Northeast Biodefense Center, Development of Complement Modulating Therapeutics for AMD
OpenAlex ID: W2037999529