ELIMINATION OF HEPATITIS-C VIRUS-RNA IN INFECTED HUMAN HEPATOCYTES BYADENOVIRUS-MEDIATED EXPRESSION OF RIBOZYMES

Hepatitis C virus (HCV), a positive-strand RNA virus, is the major inf ectious agent responsible for causing chronic hepatitis. Currently, th ere is no vaccine for HCV infection, and the only therapy for chronic hepatitis C is largely ineffective, To investigate new genetic approac hes to the management of HCV infection, six hammerhead ribozymes direc ted against a conserved region of the plus strand and minus strand of the HCV genome were isolated from a ribozyme library characterized, an d expressed from recombinant adenovirus vectors. The expressed ribozym es individually or in combination were efficient at reducing or elimin ating the respective plus- or minus-strand HCV RNAs expressed in cultu red cells and from primary human hepatocytes obtained from chronic HCV -infected patients. This study demonstrates the potential utility of r ibozyme therapy as a strategy for the treatment of hepatitis C virus i nfection.