Claudin-6 and Occludin Natural Variants Found in a Patient Highly Exposed but Not Infected with Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) Do Not Confer HCV Resistance In Vitro

PLoS One. 2015 Nov 12;10(11):e0142539. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0142539. eCollection 2015.

Abstract

The clinical course of Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection is highly variable between infected individual hosts: up to 80% of acutely HCV infected patients develop a chronic infection while 20% clear infection spontaneously. Spontaneous clearance of HCV infection can be predicted by several factors, including symptomatic acute infection, favorable IFNL3 polymorphisms and gender. In our study, we explored the possibility that variants in HCV cell entry factors might be involved in resistance to HCV infection. In a same case patient highly exposed but not infected by HCV, we previously identified one mutation in claudin-6 (CLDN6) and a rare variant in occludin (OCLN), two tight junction proteins involved in HCV entry into hepatocytes. Here, we conducted an extensive functional study to characterize the ability of these two natural variants to prevent HCV entry. We used lentiviral vectors to express Wildtype or mutated CLDN6 and OCLN in different cell lines and primary human hepatocytes. HCV infection was then investigated using cell culture produced HCV particles (HCVcc) as well as HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp) expressing envelope proteins from different genotypes. Our results show that variants of CLDN6 and OCLN expressed separately or in combination did not affect HCV infection nor cell-to-cell transmission. Hence, our study highlights the complexity of HCV resistance mechanisms supporting the fact that this process probably not primarily involves HCV entry factors and that other unknown host factors may be implicated.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / immunology
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / metabolism
  • Carcinoma, Hepatocellular / virology
  • Cell Line, Tumor
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Claudins / genetics
  • Claudins / immunology*
  • Claudins / metabolism
  • Disease Resistance / genetics
  • Disease Resistance / immunology
  • Flow Cytometry
  • HEK293 Cells
  • Hep G2 Cells
  • Hepacivirus / immunology*
  • Hepacivirus / physiology
  • Hepatitis C / immunology*
  • Hepatitis C / metabolism
  • Hepatitis C / virology
  • Hepatocytes / immunology
  • Hepatocytes / metabolism
  • Hepatocytes / virology
  • Host-Pathogen Interactions / immunology
  • Humans
  • Liver Neoplasms / immunology
  • Liver Neoplasms / metabolism
  • Liver Neoplasms / virology
  • Microscopy, Fluorescence
  • Mutation / immunology
  • Occludin / genetics
  • Occludin / immunology*
  • Occludin / metabolism
  • Virion / immunology
  • Virion / physiology

Substances

  • Claudins
  • Occludin
  • claudin 6

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the French National Agency for Research on AIDS and Viral Hepatitis (ANRS) (grants ANRS AO-2008-1 and ANRS AO 2013-2). L. F. and T. V. were supported by a fellowship from the French Ministry of Research. L. F. was also supported by a fellowship from the ANRS. S. B. was supported by a Marie Curie International Reintegration Grant (PIRG-GA-2009-256300).