| Abstract | Hepatitis C virus (HCV) currently infects about 170 million people worldwide. HCV protein NS5A is a known inhibitor of the host innate immune response, specifically, the IFN-b production pathway. However, little is known about the overall structure of the NS5A protein and where NS5A interacts with this pathway. The goal of our study was to determine the effects of two different NS5A mutants, K2040 (10A) and L2198S (H27), on IFN-b promoter activity, as well as to determine which NS5A domain is particularly involved in blocking the IFN-b production pathway. |
