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BMC Infectious Diseases
Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases 1/2010

Open Access 01-12-2010 | Research article

Genetic diversity of NS5A protein from hepatitis C virus genotype 3a and its relationship to therapy response

Authors: Cíntia Bittar, Ana Carolina G Jardim, Lilian HT Yamasaki, Artur TL de Queiróz, Claudia MA Carareto, João Renato R Pinho, Isabel Maria VG de Carvalho-Mello, Paula Rahal

Published in: BMC Infectious Diseases | Issue 1/2010

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Abstract

Background

The quasispecies nature of HCV may have important implications for viral persistence, pathogenicity and resistance to antiviral agents. The variability of one of the viral proteins, NS5A, is believed to be related to the response to IFN therapy, the standard treatment for infection. In this study we analyzed the quasispecies composition of NS5A protein in patients infected with HCV genotype 3a, before IFN therapy.

Methods

Viral RNA was isolated from samples of 12 patients: four sustained virological responders (SVR), four non-responders (NR), and four end-of-treatment responders (ETR). cDNA was synthesized, the NS5A region was amplified and the fragments obtained were cloned. Fifteen clones from each patient were sequenced with eight primers, generating 179 contigs.

Results

Higher values for substitution (either synonymous or non-synonymous) and for distance were found in the SVR group. However, the NR group showed relatively more non-synonymous mutations than the other groups, owing to the higher values of dN/dS in complete NS5A and most specific regions. Overall, NS5A protein is undergoing purifying selection, since all dN/dS ratios values are below 0.5.

Conclusions

Our study provides an overview of the genetic variability of complete NS5A protein in HCV genotype 3a.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Genetic diversity of NS5A protein from hepatitis C virus genotype 3a and its relationship to therapy response
Authors
Cíntia Bittar
Ana Carolina G Jardim
Lilian HT Yamasaki
Artur TL de Queiróz
Claudia MA Carareto
João Renato R Pinho
Isabel Maria VG de Carvalho-Mello
Paula Rahal
Publication date
01-12-2010
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Infectious Diseases / Issue 1/2010
Electronic ISSN: 1471-2334
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2334-10-36

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