AUSTIN, Texas — Researchers in the Cockrell School of Engineering at The University of Texas at Austin have discovered a correlation between aging and the effectiveness of T-cells, a type of immune cell programmed to fight or kill a threat. The researchers found that older people have T-cells that are less effective at fending off the hepatitis C virus (HCV). (more…)
The hepatitis C virus has a previously unrecognized tactic to outwit antiviral responses and sustain a long-term infection. It also turns out that some people are genetically equipped with a strong countermeasure to the virus’ attempt to weaken the attack on it.
The details of these findings suggest potential targets for treating HCV, according to a research team led by Dr. Ram Savan, assistant professor of immunology at the University of Washington. The study was published in Nature Immunology. (more…)
Researchers from UCLA’s Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center have identified a cell-permeable peptide that inhibits a hepatitis C virus protein and blocks the viral replication that can lead to liver cancer and cirrhosis.
The finding by Dr. Samuel French, a UCLA assistant professor of pathology and senior author of the research, builds on previous work by French’s laboratory that identified two cellular proteins that are important factors in hepatitis C virus infection. (more…)
