Osaka University

Kohji Moriishi

Yoshiharu Matsuura

The present invention provides an anti-hepatitis C virus composition that includes a substance that suppresses the expression or function of a PA28&#x3b3; gene, a method for preventing hepatitis C viral infection or suppressing hepatitis C virus growth that includes the step of administering the composition to a subject, and a method for screening an effective component of an anti-hepatitis C virus composition that includes the step of selecting a substance that inhibits the expression or function of a PA28&#x3b3; gene.

Anti-hepatitis C virus composition

An easy and efficient screening method for an agent useful for prevention and/or treatment of hepatitis C virus-related disease, and a prophylactic and/or therapeutic agent for hepatitis C virus-related disease obtained by the method. The screening method comprises a step of examining the inhibitory activity of an test substance on the protein-protein interaction between hepatitis C virus core protein and PA28.gamma,. The method can be carried out by using transcriptional activity of a lipid metabolism-control factor as indicator. The test substance used in the method may have an activity to inhibit expression or function of the PA28.gamma. gene. The hepatitis C virus-related diseases include fatty liver, acute hepatitis, chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, liver cancer, and insulin-resistant diseases. The method is extremely useful as a method of obtaining an agent superior in preventive and therapeutic activity particularly to diseases such as fatty liver and liver cancer.

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Osaka, Japan

Kohji Moriishi