@article{mbs:/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.18997-0, author = "Frese, Michael and Barth, Kerstin and Kaul, Artur and Lohmann, Volker and Schwärzle, Verena and Bartenschlager, Ralf", title = "Hepatitis C virus RNA replication is resistant to tumour necrosis factor-α", journal= "Journal of General Virology", year = "2003", volume = "84", number = "5", pages = "1253-1259", doi = "https://doi.org/10.1099/vir.0.18997-0", url = "https://www.microbiologyresearch.org/content/journal/jgv/10.1099/vir.0.18997-0", publisher = "Microbiology Society", issn = "1465-2099", type = "Journal Article", abstract = "It was demonstrated using self-replicating hepatitis C virus (HCV) RNAs that both types of interferons (IFNs) (in particular IFN-α and IFN-γ) are potent inhibitors of HCV replication in Huh-7 cells. Because IFN-γ and tumour necrosis factor (TNF)-α trigger a partially overlapping set of antiviral defence mechanisms, it is tempting to speculate that TNF-α also inhibits HCV replication. However, this study shows that TNF-α does not affect HCV protein and RNA synthesis, nor does it synergistically enhance the inhibitory effect of IFN-γ. Taken together, these results demonstrate that HCV replication in Huh-7 cells is highly resistant to TNF-α. It is, therefore, unlikely that the increased production of TNF-α, which is seen in many hepatitis C patients, contributes to HCV clearance by inducing antiviral defence mechanisms in infected hepatocytes.", }