Role of the host stress response in the establishment of viral persistence: comparative analysis of hepatitis C virus and hepatitis A virus infection (12)

• Subject Area: Virology
• Term: from 2016 to 2020
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 272983813

Host stress responses regulate multiple pathways including inflammatory and immune responses, thereby likely influencing the fate of a viral infection. In this first funding period, we will (i) develop a quiescent cell culture model that allows studying the dynamics of the stress response to chronic virus infections such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) in a physiological context closer to hepatocytes in the liver, and (ii) generate a time-resolved map of transcriptional and translational reprogramming that occur in persistent HCV infection. Using an acute hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection as model of a non-persistent virus, we aim at identifying key differences to HCV that influence the establishment of a persistent infection.

• DFG Programme: CRC/Transregios
• Subproject of: TRR 179: Determinants and dynamics of elimination versus persistence of hepatitis virus infection
• Applicant Institution: Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg
• Project Head: Dr. Alessia Ruggieri, Ph.D.