October 21, 2016.
The hepatitis C virus has been observed under an electron microscope at the University of Tours, in Indre-et-Loire. A great first!
Very difficult to observe under a microscope
According to the results of a study published in the medical journal Gut, French scientists from Inserm have succeeded in observe the hepatitis C virus under a microscope. A scientific feat that many researchers have been waiting for for more than 25 years.
It was in 1989 that HCV was discovered, but until now, no scientist had been able to observe it under a microscope, because it took on the appearance of a simple lipid particle. ” This strategy, which allows it to enter cells more easily and bypass the immune system, also makes it visually undetectable. ”, Explained Inserm researchers.
To be able to observe it, they used specific antibodies of viral proteins and were thus able to distinguish them from other particles.
A virus that looks like a small white sphere
” It looks like a simple little white sphere surrounded by other lipid white spheres in the blood », Explains Jean-Christophe Meunier, Inserm researcher and responsible for this work. ” The virus takes advantage of the synthesis pathway of lipoproteins, the particles that transport fat in the body, to replicate by associating closely with their components “.
While currently no vaccine exists to fight hepatitis C, this observation opens up great prospects for researchers, ” because we need to know its structure to know from which angle to attack it », Added Jean-Christophe Meunier. Around 700,000 people die of hepatitis C-related liver disease each year. Antiviral drugs exist but are not sufficient.
Read also: Hepatitis C endangered?
