Hepatitis C virus core protein does not inhibit apoptosis in human hepatoma cells

Background Viral persistence is a major problem after infection with the hepatitis C virus. Recently, it has been reported that hepatitis C virus core protein inhibits cis-platin induced apoptosis in human cervical carcinoma cells and apoptosis induced by overexpression of c-myc in Chinese hamster ovary cells. Materials and methods This study investigated whether different variants of hepatitis C virus core or E2 protein interfere with tumour necrosis factor alpha or Fas (CD95/ APO-1) antibody-induced programmed cell death in transiently transfected human hepatoma (HepG2) cells. Results While neither full length or C-terminally truncated variants of hepatitis C virus core protein nor hepatitis C virus E2 protein inhibited tumour necrosis factor alpha- or Fas antibody-induced apoptosis, a strong inhibition was observed with the cowpox virus cytokine response modifier A protein. Conclusions Thus, it is unlikely that hepatitis C virus core or E2 protein inhibit apoptosis mediated by apoptosis-signalling pathways sensitive to cytokine response modifier A protein. Discrepancies to previous reports probably reflect specific effects of hepatitis C virus core protein on different apoptotic pathways and/ or cell lines.