The virusHepatitis C no longer holds any secrets for the French scientists at Inserm who managed to observe it under a microscope, according to theThe results of a study published in the medical journal Gut. Could this technological feat be the first step in finding a vaccine against this killer virus?
Researchers from Inserm in Tours (Inserm Unit 966 “Morphogenesis and antigenicity of HIV and hepatitis viruses”) have achieved a scientific feat awaited by the community for 25 years. They observed the hepatitis C virus (or HCV) under an electron microscope. Since 1990, the secrets of this deadly virus, responsible for 130 to 150 million cases ofHepatitis C worldwide and about 700,000 deaths each year, had been obtained by molecular biology. No scientist could see it under a microscope, because it was able to take 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.
“It looks like a simple small white sphere in the middle of other lipidic 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 fat transport particles in the body, to replicate by associating closely with their components.”
Observing the hepatitis C virus: a technological challenge
To succeed in this scientific challenge, the researchers used several antibodies specific to viral proteins and finally succeeded in distinguishing these famous virolipid particles from simple lipoproteins circulating in the serum of patients. This work was made possible thanks to the electron microscopy platform of the University of Tours, backed by their Inserm unit.
“Effective treatments are now available for hepatitis C, but no vaccine has yet been found. However, knowing the exact structure and organization of these virolipid particles will be very useful for those working on this, ”concludes Jean-Christophe Meunier.
Read also:
Hepatitis C: all patients will benefit from new treatments
Hepatitis C: the HAS defines the role of new treatments
Hepatitis C: towards treatment for all patients?
