Structural studies of Helicase NS3 variants from Hepatitis C virus genotype 3 in virological sustained responder and non-responder patients.

ABSTRACT:

Background

About 130 million people are infected with the hepatitis C virus (HCV) worldwide, but effective treatment options are not yet available. One of the most promising targets for antiviral therapy is nonstructural protein 3 (NS3). To identify possible changes in the structure of NS3 associated with virological sustained response or non-response of patients, a model was constructed for each helicase NS3 protein coding sequence. From this, the goal was to verify the interaction between helicases variants and their ligands.

Findings

Evidence was found that the NS3 helicase portion of non-responder patients contained substitutions in its ATP and RNA binding sites. K210E substitution can cause an imbalance in the distribution of loads, leading to a decrease in the number o

SUBMITTER: Provazzi PJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2919562 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature