Hepatitis C virus infection induces the beta interferon signaling pathway in immortalized human hepatocytes

Beta interferon (IFN-beta) expression is triggered by double-stranded RNA, a common intermediate in the replication of many viruses including hepatitis C virus (HCV). The recent development of cell culture-grown HCV allowed us to analyze the IFN signaling pathway following virus infection. In this study, we have examined the IFN-beta signaling pathway following infection of immortalized human hepatocytes (IHH) with HCV genotype 1a (clone H77) or 2a (clone JFH1). We observed that IHH possesses a functional Toll-like receptor 3 pathway. HCV infection in IHH enhanced IFN-beta and IFN-stimulated gene 56 (ISG56) promoter activities; however, poly(I-C)-induced IFN-beta and ISG56 expression levels were modestly inhibited upon HCV infection. IHH infected with HCV (genotype 1a or 2a) exhibited various levels of translocation of IRF-3 into the nucleus. The upregulation of endogenous IFN-beta and 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase 1 mRNA expression was also observed in HCV-infected IHH. Subsequent studies suggested that HCV infection in IHH enhanced STAT1 and ISG56 protein expression. A functional antiviral response of HCV-infected IHH was observed by the growth-inhibitory role in vesicular stomatitis virus. Together, our results suggested that HCV infection in IHH induces the IFN signaling pathway, which corroborates observations from natural HCV infection in humans.