Persistence of HCV in quiescent hepatic cells under conditions of an interferon-induced antiviral response

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a common cause of chronic liver disease. Many patients do not clear the viral infection; little is known about the mechanisms of HCV persistence or the frequent failure of interferon (IFN) to eliminate it. Better culture systems are needed to study viral replication in quiescent liver cells. Methods: We used human hepatoma (Huh7.5) cells and those that had undergone proliferation arrest and differentiation (Huh7.5dif) to study the persistence of HCV infection following exposure of the cells to IFN-α and to compare the antiviral effects of IFN-α and IFN-λ. We validated these results wit…