Molecular characterization of the P7 protein of the hepatitic C virus as intracellular modulator and direct antiviral target / Noha Samir Farag ; Supervised Hans Georg Breitinger , Mohammed Elazizi

Thesis (Ph.D.) - German University - Faculty of Postgraduate Studies and Scientific Research - Department of Microbiology

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is a major cause of acute and chronic liver disease with more than 3% of the world's population infected and more than 170 million chronic carriers at risk of developing liver cirrhosis and/or liver cancer. Although new treatment have been introduced, the search for new anti-viral targets is still a major necessity especially in Egypt where 18% of the population is infected. HCV P7, a 63-residue transmembrane protein belonging to the family of viropoins has been introduced recently as a new antiviral target. The precise mechanism as to how p7 functions as an ion channcel and its contribution to the virus life cycle is still elusive