The Need for New Anti-Hepatitis C Virus Therapeutic Strategies : Targeting the cellular micro-ribonucleic acids?

Abstract

Infection with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a worldwide problem. Patients with chronic HCV infection who are non-responders to standard therapy represent a growing population within the HCV epidemic.Novel, more efficient and tolerable therapies are urgently needed. This review discusses the recent results showing that targeting miR-122, a micro-ribonucleic acid (MicroRNA) that enhances HCV replication, is a new anti-HCV therapy with a high barrier to resistance.

Keywords

• hepatitis c virus
• micrornas
• interferon
• liver
• infection
• therapy