Chemical biology for revealing a life cycle of hepatitis C virus

Abstract

It is one of the major subjects in the virology field to develop novel anti-viral strategies as well as to reveal the mechanism of viral replication. We have developed a method of chemical compound-directed analysis on viral replication. Until now, we rediscovered cyclosporin A and tamoxifen as anti-hepatitis C virus (HCV) compounds. Through analysis using these compounds, it was revealed that host cell factors cyclophilin (CyP) and estrogen receptor were important for HCV replication. CyP was demonstrated to serve as a new target of the development for anti-HCV agents and CyP inhibitors are now under clinical trials. Thus, an application of chemical biology to virology would provide not only mechanistic aspects of viral life cycles but also new anti-viral strategies.