[Hepatitis C virus as a causative agent of carcinogenesis--recent trends for study]

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection causes chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. However, the mechanism of carcinogenesis by HCV is poorly understood. In this paper, the recent virological and molecular biological studies of HCV published in after 1996 were summarized including the past reported data. Major topics of the study are the biological functions of HCV proteins and the interaction between HCV proteins and cellular proteins. HCV replication and proliferation systems using human cultured cells were also described. The possible role of HCV for development of hepatocellular carcinoma is discussed.