Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Journal of Virology, June 2007, p. 6128-6133, Vol. 81, No. 11
0022-538X/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/JVI.02627-06
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Department of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics,1 Departments of Internal Medicine and Molecular and Cellular Biochemistry and Graduate Center for Nutritional Sciences, University of Kentucky College of Medicine, Lexington, Kentucky 405362
Received 28 November 2006/ Accepted 21 February 2007
Serum amyloid A (SAA) is an acute-phase protein induced by a variety of inflammatory stimuli, including bacterial and viral infections. SAA was recently found to function as an opsonin for gram-negative bacteria. We report here that SAA inhibited hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in cultured cells. SAA reduced HCV infectivity in a dose-dependent manner when added during HCV infection but not after virus entry. SAA bound HCV virions and specifically blocked HCV entry but did not affect virus attachment. These findings suggest that SAA functions as part of the host innate immune defense mechanisms against HCV infection in humans.
Published ahead of print on 28 February 2007.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»