Immune Evasion Strategies of Hepatitis C virus

Abstract

In this thesis I will discuss the “tug of war” between hepatitis C virus (HCV) and our innate and adaptive immune system. A chronic HCV infection is the leading causative agent for liver cirrhosis, and currently over 200 million people are infected worldwide. According to epidemiological studies, HCV infects around three till for million people per year. I will start with elaborating on the epidemiology and pathogenesis of the virus, followed by the viral characteristics of HCV, taxonomy, replication cycle, structure, and genome.

The focus of this paper will be on the aspect of viral persistence. In order to understand the immune evasive strategies of HCV I have divided the immunological response in two different components, the innate and the adaptive component. I have tried to integrate the type of immune response with the immune evasion strategies of HCV. In the therapy section of the thesis I will elaborate on the currently used treatments, their mechanisms of action, the possible potential for vaccine development, and the reaction of the virus on the various therapeutic compounds.

With this thesis I have tried to give a coherent, comprehensive insight into the clinical relevance of an HCV infection, the viral characteristics, the immune responses against HCV and HCVs strategies to evade these, and initiate a persistent infection.