Hepatitis C Virus (single particle model)

3D Model

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a blood-borne virus that can establish long-lasting infections in the liver. If untreated, this can result in inflammation of the liver (hepatitis) and can eventually cause liver damage and cancer. As of 2022, there is no vaccine for HCV, but infection can often be successfully treated with antiviral drugs.

HCV particles are highly variable and hard to study, and many aspects of their structure are still uncertain. In the blood, HCV particles associate with serum lipoproteins (the particles that transport fats in the blood). One possible structure of this complex ‘lipoviral’ particle, in which an HCV particle shares an envelope with a low density lipoprotein (LDL) particle, is shown here. This model was made by Rachael Suétt, working with researchers at the MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research and The Glasgow School of Art. It is based in part on studies reviewed by Lindenbach and Rice (2013; doi: 10.1038/nrmicro3098).

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