Fittest hepatitis C viruses infect transplanted livers

Chronic HCV infection is the leading indication for liver transplantation in the US. But installing a new liver does not cure disease; in fact, HCV infects the transplanted liver in nearly all patients.

However, only a subset of the viruses present prior to transplantation show up in the new organ, according to a study lead by Francoise Stoll-Keller and Thomas Baumert at the University of Strasbourg in France. Compared to many of their pre-transplant brethren, the viruses that invaded the new organ infected liver cells more readily and were impervious to the antibodies that normally block infection.

In most patients, the post-transplant viruses had mutations in one region of the surface protein the virus uses to infect cells. Blocking this region may thus provide a new way to prevent reinfection after liver transplant.