Investigation of factors determining the elimination or survival of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection in the early stage of infection: the influence of genetic variability of the virus and immune response

The knowledge about the phenomena accompanying the earliest stages of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is still unsatisfactory. This is due to the lack of a good experimental model and the specificity of the clinical course of the infection, which at this stage is usually asymptomatic. In particular, the knowledge about the factors that determine the elimination of a virus or its survival and disease development is still incomplete. In the presented Project, we plan to study 180 blood donors with newly acquired HCV infection. The aim of the presented project is to investigate the factors influencing the early stage of infection that determine the elimination or survival of HCV infection. Factors from both the host side: activation of the immune system response and genetic conditions (IL28B genotype), as well as from the virus side: population complexity and the occurrence of characteristic HCV HVR1 and 5'UTR sequence motifs using deep sequencing techniques will be analyzed.