Latest Health research news from the around the globe: A Twist in the Genome Thwarts Hepatitis C

A Twist in the Genome Thwarts Hepatitis C
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admin on 27 September, 2009 02:25:00
 
Credit: Thomas Hermann
Now Thomas Hermann, assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry, and
colleagues at UC San Diego have shown that this bent loop on the viral genome
changes its shape in response to the inhibitors, preventing the host cell from
reading the codes for viral proteins. Their discovery, published online this
week in Nature Chemical Biology, will guide the search for better candidates to
quell the virus, which the World Health Organization estimates infects about 170
million people worldwide and causes chronic liver disease and liver cancer.
Hermann’s group is now looking for new, more easily synthesized drug
candidates, that might stop viral replication in a similar way.
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