Methods of testing potential inhibitors of hepatitis C in Huh-7.5 cell line]

According to WHO reports, there are 130-170 million persons chronically infected with hepatitis C virus on a global scale. There is no effective vaccine against HCV, and the current standard of chronic hepatitis C therapy has limited efficiency and undesirable side effects. Current studies are focused on searching for a new therapeutic agents, which are specifically targeted against the virus. The aim of the study was to develop a methodology for testing the activity and cytotoxicity of potential helicase inhibitors (derivatives of anthracycline antibiotics) in Huh-7.5 cell line infected with HCV.The Huh-7.5 cell line was infected with the JFH1 (Japanese Fulminant Hepatitis) RNA by lipofection. The cytotoxicity of anthracycline antibiotics was measured by Cell Proliferation Kit II(XTT), after 1, 2, 3, 4 and 24 hours after incubation with tetrazolium salt XTT. The activity ofanthracycline antibiotics was examined by Real-Time PCR method.The study allowed to optimize the conditions of cytotoxicity and activity studies of anthracycline antibiotics.Huh-7.5 cell line infected with HCV is a robust cell culture model for screening new antivirals against HCV.