If ADK expression levels or activity differ between patients with CHC, it may this website be a useful therapeutic target. It has recently been reported that a functional SNP (rs1127354; major C and minor A) in inosine triphosphatase was the most significant SNP associated with RBV-induced anemia.[18] In this context, we hypothesized that this SNP is associated with the expression level of ADK. To test this hypothesis, we examined the status of rs1127354 in ORL8 and PH5CH8 cells showing high expression levels of ADK and in OR6 and Hep3B cells

showing low expression levels of ADK. The results revealed that all cell lines showed the major C of the SNP, suggesting that rs1127354 is not associated with the expression level of ADK. The most striking highlight in this study is the IRES activity found in ADK mRNA. It has recently been reported that cellular IRES-mediated translation is activated by many physiological and pathological stress conditions in eukaryotic cells.[19] To achieve efficient IRES-dependent translation, some triggers will be needed. However, HCV RNA replication

was not such a trigger, in the present study, because a similar level of IRES activity was observed in both OL8c cured cells and genome-length HCV RNA-replicating OL8 Selleck Lumacaftor cells (Supporting Fig. 7A-D). The addition of adenosine did not act as a trigger for IRES (Supporting Fig. 9). Another possible explanation for the high MCE公司 level of ADK in ORL8 cells would be the involvement of one or more miRNA(s) in stabilizing the IRES-containing ADK mRNA, as reported in HCV RNA.[20] To test this possibility, we performed comparative miRNA microarray

analysis using ORL8, PH5CH8, OR6, and HT17 cells. The results revealed that nts 1-8 of miR-424, whose expression levels in ORL8 and PH5CH8 cells were several times higher than those in OR6 and HT17 cells, showed base pairs in the nt 61-68 upstream initiation codon of ADK mRNA. It was noticed that this region in ADK mRNA overlaps the region (nt 60-90 upstream initiation codon of ADK mRNA) identified as the entry site of the 40S ribosome. However, a preliminary experiment showed that overexpression of miR-424 in ORL8 or OR6 cells did not enhance the translation of ADK (Supporting Fig. 10), suggesting that miR-424 is not associated with the high level of ADK in ORL8 cells. The possibility remains that other miRNA(s) participate in the up-regulation of ADK. At this time, we have identified ADK as a host factor that controls the anti-HCV activity of RBV and clarified the molecular mechanism underlying regulation with ADK. Furthermore, we demonstrated that such a novel mechanism plays a role in PHHs. From our finding, we suggest that ADK expression is artfully regulated both at the transcription and translation stage.