Immortalized human hepatocyte, an alternate model for the study of the propagation of HCV in vivo and in vitro
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Abstract
The chimeric Alb-uPA SCID mouse that has been transplanted with human hepatocytes is a model to facilitate in vivo study of HCV. We explored further development of the model by using repopulation with immortalized human hepatocytes (IHH) in place of primary human hepatocyte (PHH) transplantation to support HCV infection. In vitro HCV studies typically utilize a human hepatoma cell line (Huh7) and rely on transfection with transcribed genomic RNA derived from a unique HCV strain (JFH1). Unfortunately, this system has not been successful in support of infection with serum-derived HCV (HCVser). IHH may offer an alternative since their differentiation status remains close to that of PHH. IHH transfected with HCV RNA (H77 or JFH1) or infected with HCVser showed stable intracellular and supernatant HCV RNA by real-time RT-PCR. IHH showed intracellular HCV NS3 proteins. HCV transfected or infected IHH secrete infectious HCVcc for in vivo and vitro.