Patent Application: US-200913122339-A

Abstract:
the human occludin protein is identified as an essential hepatitis c virus cell entry factor . occludin is shown to render murine and other non - human cells infectable with hcv and to be required for hcv - susceptibility of human cells . associated methods for inhibiting hcv infection , transgenic animal models for hcv pathogenesis , methods of identifying compounds or agents that prevent or mitigate interaction of hcv with occludin , and hcv inhibitory agents are also disclosed . kits and cell culture compositions useful for identifying compounds or agents that prevent or mitigate interaction of hcv with occludin are also provided .

Description:
the following disclosed embodiments are merely representative of the invention , which may be embodied in various forms . thus , specific structural and functional details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting . all reagents and chemicals are either commercially available or can be prepared by standard procedures found in the literature or are known to those of skill in the arts of cell or molecular biology , organic chemistry , biochemistry , and the like . as used herein , the term “ hcv ” refers to any major hcv genotype , subtype , isolate , and / or quasispecies . hcv genotypes include , but are not limited to , genotypes 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 and hcv subtypes include , but are not limited to , subtypes ia , ib , 2a , 2b 5 2c , 3a , 4a - 4f , 5 a , and 6a . as used herein , the phrase “ conservative amino acid substitutions ” refers to one or more changes in amino acid ( s ) in a sequence is ( are ) are replaced with another amino acid ( s ), the charge and polarity of which is similar to that of the native amino acid . conservative substitutes for an amino acid within a protein , a peptide , or peptidomimetic compound are made with members of the group to which the originally occurring amino acid belongs . amino acids can be divided into the following four groups : ( 1 ) acidic amino acids ; ( 2 ) basic amino acids ; ( 3 ) neutral polar amino acids ; and ( 4 ) neutral non - polar amino acids . representative amino acids within these various groups include , but are not limited to : ( 1 ) acidic ( negatively charged ) amino acids such as aspartic acid and glutamic acid ; ( 2 ) basic ( positively charged ) amino acids such as arginine , histidine , and lysine ; ( 3 ) neutral polar amino acids such as glycine , serine , threonine , cysteine , tyrosine , asparagine , and glutamine ; ( 4 ) neutral nonpolar ( hydrophobic ) amino acids such as alanine , leucine , isoleucine , valine , proline , phenylalanine , tryptophan , and methionine . conservative amino acid changes can be made by substituting one amino acid within one of these groups with another amino acid within the same group . as used herein , an “ antibody ” is any of a polyclonal antibody , a monoclonal antibody , a single chain antibody , or a synthetic antibody . as used herein , a “ monoclonal antibody ” is any antibody derived from any source that recognizes a single epitope . as used herein , a “ single chain antibody ” is any light chain antibody , any heavy chain antibody , or any fragment thereof comprising an antigen recognition site . single chain antibodies can be derived from any source . as used herein , a “ synthetic antibody ” is any antibody that is produced by recombinant dna technology . synthetic antibodies thus include , but are not limited to , humanized antibodies , mutagenized antibodies , and antibodies derived from human , bacterial , yeast or bacteriophage expression libraries . as used herein , the phrase “ peptidomimetic compound ” refers a peptide analog containing one or more non - naturally occurring amino acids ( e . g ., non - natural side chains , non - natural chiralities , n - substituted amino acids , or beta amino acids ), non - natural topologies ( e . g ., cyclic or branched ) and / or peptide analogues with partially or totally substituted amide ( peptide ) bonds with ester , thioester or other linkages . as used herein , the phrase “ chemically derivatized variant ”, when used in reference to a peptide or peptidomimetic compound , refers to peptides or peptidomimetic compounds that have been covalently modified . covalent modifications include , but are not limited to , acetylation , amidation , sulfation , succinylation , methylation , chelator linkage or terminal blockage . as used herein , the term “ corresponding ”, when used in the context of comparing , aligning , or identifying equivalent amino acids in one polypeptide sequence with another polypeptide , peptide , or peptidomimetic compound sequence , refers to the comparison or alignment that will yield the highest percent identity when aligned with the other polypeptide sequence . as used herein , the phrase “ membrane bound protein ” refers to any protein that is bound to a cell membrane under physiological ph and salt concentrations . binding of the membrane bound protein can be either by direct binding to the phospholipid bilayer or by binding to a protein , glycoprotein , or other intermediary that is bound to the membrane . as used herein , the term “ extracellular ” refers to the external , non - cytoplasmic region of a cell . as used herein , the phrase “ interaction of a region of a hepatitis c virus with a region of an occludin protein ”, encompasses any step in the process by which an hcv virion or component derived there from is recognized , bound and / or internalized by a cell . as used herein , interactions include any direct or indirect function of occludin required for hcv entry . methods of inhibiting , mitigating or preventing hcv infection by inhibiting hcv interaction with an occludin protein . a variety of methods for inhibiting hcv infection by inhibiting endogenous occludin function are contemplated by this invention . such methods can comprise either blockage of regions of endogenous occludin that provide for cellular interactions required for hcv entry or blockage of the regions of hcv that provide for interactions with endogenous occludin or an occludin containing protein complex . similar methods for inhibiting hcv infection by inhibiting endogenous claudin function are also described in wo 2007 / 130646 . having identified the region of an endogenous occludin that can be bound to inhibit hcv infection , a variety of effective extracellular loop binding agents are contemplated herein . in addition to antibodies , aptamers that bind to an occludin extracellular loop can be used to inhibit hcv infection . as used herein , an aptamer can comprise any dna , rna , oligonucleotide , or chemically modified oligonucleotide that binds to a target . isolation and identification of aptamers has been disclosed ( u . s . pat . no . 5 , 582 , 981 , u . s . pat . no . 6 , 867 , 289 , u . s . pat . no . 7 , 179 , 894 ). alternatively , recombinant binding proteins that bind an endogenous occludin extracellular loop can be used to inhibit hcv infection . as used herein , “ recombinant binding proteins ” are any non - naturally occurring proteins obtained by recombinant dna or polymerase chain reaction - mediated reactions that bind to a target . recombinant binding proteins can comprise polypeptide binding regions of immunoglobulin heavy chains variable domains , immunoglobulin light chain variable domains , v . alpha ./ v . beta . domains of t cell receptor proteins , or combinations thereof . isolation and identification of recombinant binding proteins has been disclosed ( u . s . pat . no . 6 , 010 , 884 and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 297 , 053 ). blockage of hcv regions to inhibit hcv infection can also be effected by agents that mimic the region of occludin extracellular loop that interacts with hcv . without seeking to be limited by theory , contacting hcv with agents that mimic the critical region of an occludin extracellular loop is expected to inhibit productive interactions of hcv with endogenous occludin that permit cellular entry of hcv and hcv infection . these agents are expected to competitively inhibit interactions with hcv and endogenous occludin . one advantage of occludin extracellular loop mimicking agents is that they can be optimized such that their interactions with the critical regions of hcv are potentiated while their interactions with any other endogenous cellular ligands that recognize an endogenous occludin extracellular loop are minimized . optimization of occludin mimicking agents is expected to provide for inhibition , prevention or mitigation of hcv infection while minimizing undesirable side effects . in practicing any of the above referenced methods involving administration of hcv inhibitory , preventative or mitigating agents to a subject , it is contemplated that a variety of pharmaceutical compositions comprising these active agents can be administered by a variety of techniques . such pharmaceutical compositions may be formulated in various ways known in the art for administration purposes . to prepare the pharmaceutical compositions of the present invention , an effective amount of the particular compound , in base or acid salt form , as the active ingredient is combined with one or more pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and delivery vehicles . numerous pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and delivery vehicles exist that are readily accessible and well known in the art , which may be employed to generate the preparation desired ( i . e ., that permit administration of the pharmaceutical composition orally , topically , rectally , percutaneously , by parenteral injection , intranasally or by inhalation ). representative examples of pharmaceutically acceptable carriers and delivery vehicles include aluminum stearate , lecithin , serum proteins , such as human serum albumin ; buffer substances such as the various phosphates , glycine , sorbic acid , potassium sorbate , partial glyceride mixtures of saturated vegetable fatty acids ; water , salts or electrolytes , such as protamine sulfate , disodium hydrogen phosphate , potassium hydrogen phosphate , sodium chloride , and zinc salts ; colloidal silica , magnesium trisilicate , polyvinyl pyrrolidone , cellulose - based substances , polyethylene glycol , sodium carboxymethylcellulose , polyarylates , waxes , polyethylene , polyoxypropylene - block polymers , polyethylene glycol and wool fat , and the like . the pharmacologic compositions described herein may further be prepared in unitary dosage form suitable for administration orally , percutaneously , by parenteral injection ( including subcutaneous , intramuscular , intravenous and intradermal ), topically , intranasally , by inhalation , or for application to a medical device , such as an implant , catheter , or other device . in preparing the compositions that permit administration of an oral dosage , for example , any of the pharmaceutically acceptable carriers known in the art may be used , such as water , glycols , oils , alcohols and the like in the case of carriers that permit oral delivery of liquid preparations such as suspensions , syrups , elixirs and solutions . when solid pharmaceutically acceptable carriers are desired that permit oral or rectal administration , starches , sugars , kaolin , lubricants , binders , cellulose and its derivatives , and disintegrating agents and the like may be used to prepare , for example , powders , pills , capsules and tablets . for pharmaceutically acceptable carriers that permit parenteral administration , the pharmaceutically acceptable carriers often comprise sterile water , which may be supplemented with various solutes to , for example , increase solubility . injectable solutions may be prepared in which the pharmaceutically acceptable carrier comprises saline solution , glucose solution , or a mixture thereof , which may include certain well - known anti - oxidants , buffers , bacteriostats , and other solutes that render the formulation isotonic with the blood of the intended patient . a variety of in vitro and cell based assays that provide for identification of compounds or agents that inhibit interactions of hcv with occludin are contemplated herein . inhibition of hcv interactions with occludin can be used to inhibit , mitigate or prevent infection of a subject with any major hcv genotype , subtype , isolate , and / or quasispecie . hcv genotypes include , but are not limited to , genotypes 1 , 2 , 3 , 4 , 5 and 6 and hcv subtypes include , but are not limited to , subtypes ia , ib , 2a , 2b , 2c , 3a , 4a - 4f , 5a and 6a . furthermore , those skilled in the art will appreciate that agents or compounds that interact with any region of occludin can disrupt occludin functions that provide for hcv entry . in vitro assays comprise any assay wherein binding , interaction or association of a recombinant occludin protein with hcv or components of hcv is determined . it is understood that the binding of recombinant occludin with hcv or components of hcv can be either direct or indirect . indirect binding would entail binding of occludin to hcv through an intermediary . recombinant occludin protein can be used in the in vitro binding or interaction assays in either a soluble form or in insoluble forms such as liposomes . other insoluble forms that can be used in binding assays include forms where the recombinant occludin protein is coupled to a solid support . solid supports include beads , microtiter plates , column matrices , or any other materials suitable for immobilizing proteins for binding assays . soluble forms of the recombinant occludin can further comprise sequences that facilitate solubility , detection and / or retention . sequences that can facilitate solubility include , but are not limited to , sequences from glutathione - s - transferases or e . coli maltose binding proteins . sequences that facilitate detection include any reporter protein , any epitope or any protein - binding domain . those skilled in the art will appreciate that any of the foregoing sequences that promote solubility or detection can also facilitate retention . retention is typically used in binding assays to associate the protein or protein ligand to a solid support . the recombinant protein can also further comprise additional sequences for retention such as flag ™ epitopes ( stratagene , la jolla , calif ., usa ), myc epitopes , histidine tags and the like . binding or interaction of the recombinant occludin protein to any hcv or hcv derived material such as hcv , hcvcc , hcvpp , semi - purified hcv components , purified hcv proteins or recombinant hcv protein ( s ) can be determined in the methods contemplated herein . binding or interaction of recombinant occludin to hcv ei and e2 proteins is specifically contemplated . such binding may be either direct or indirect . either the recombinant occludin or the hcv or hcv derived materials can be detectably labeled to facilitate the binding assay . in certain embodiments , the recombinant occludin and the hcv or hcv derived materials are labeled with distinct detectable labels permitting simultaneous detection of each . in binding assays , the recombinant occludin protein is typically contacted by the hcv or hcv derived material , subjected to some form of buffer exchange , and binding determined . binding may be determined by any suitable technique or combination of techniques , including but not limited to , detection of a bound label , surface plasmon resonance , or scintillation proximity assays . those skilled in the art will recognize that the method by which the occludin sequences are presented on the extracellular surface of the cell is not critical , so long as those sequences are presented in a manner that permits hcv interaction . in certain embodiments of the method , the cell expressing the recombinant , membrane bound extracellular occludin amino acid residues is contacted by any of an hcv envelope protein , a cell expressing hcv envelope proteins ei and e2 , an hcv pseudotyped retroviral particle , an hcvcc particle , an ex vivo hcvcc particle or hcv . when the cell expressing the recombinant occludin is contacted by an hcv envelope protein ( s ), one can determine if binding of the envelope protein ( s ) is inhibited by a compound or agent by monitoring the presence or absence of the envelope protein following a buffer exchange . such binding analyses are facilitated by providing detectably labeled envelope proteins . binding of cells expressing envelope proteins , hcvpp , hcvcc , ex vivo hcvcc , or hcv to the cell expressing the recombinant occludin can also be monitored in the manner described for binding of envelope proteins . infection by hcvpp or hcvcc can also be monitored by the use of reporter genes encoded by these species , which can be assayed for in cells following exposure to the agents or compounds . the use of recombinant occludin proteins in in vitro assays that model other aspects of occludin - mediated hcv entry into cells is also contemplated . such assays would involve use of biochemical fractions from hcv , hcvcc , ex vivo hcv , hcvpp , recombinant cells expressing hcv envelope protein ( s ), reconstituted liposomes containing hcv components and other fractions or reconstituted materials derived from recombinant occludin expressing cells . interactions of hcv with occludin that result in entry of hcv into the cell can also be assayed to identify compounds or agents that interfere with any aspect of that process . productive interaction or fusion of cells expressing envelope proteins , hcvpp , hcvcc , ex vivo hcvcc , or hcv to the cell expressing the recombinant occludin can also be assayed by techniques that monitor transfer of proteins or nucleic acids from the cells expressing envelope proteins , hcvpp , hcvcc , ex vivo hcvcc , or hcv to the cell expressing the recombinant occludin . in certain embodiments , transfer of a reporter gene is monitored . when the reporter is transferred from hcvpp or any other suitable viral vector , the reporter will be expressed only upon entry into the cell expressing the recombinant occludin protein . when the reporter is present in a distinct cell that fuses to the cell expressing the recombinant occludin protein , the reporter gene will only be expressed when the cells fuse and the reporter is exposed to a factor in the cell expressing the recombinant occludin protein . methods that provide for expression of a reporter upon cell fusion include , but are not limited to , operable linkage of the reporter to a promoter that is regulated by a trans - acting transcription factor present in the host cell . entry of hcv , hcvcc , or ex vivo hcvcc can also be determined by any hybridization - or polymerase chain reaction - based method for measuring the associated hcv rna . entry of replication - competent hcv rna into cells that permit hcv rna replication results in a substantial signal amplification due to hcv rna replication . when quantitating hcv rna by use of a quantitative reverse - transcriptase polymerase chain reaction ( qrt - pcr ), the hcv - derived pcr product can be detected by use of any labeled polynucleotide probes , by use of an intercalating dye such as ethidium bromide or sybr green , use of a hybridization probe containing a fluorophore and a quencher such that emission from the fluorophore is only detected when the fluorophore is released by the 5 ′ nuclease activity of the polymerase used in the pcr reaction ( i . e ., a taqman ™ reaction ; applied biosystems , foster city , calif .) or use of methods where the fluorophore and quencher are displaced by polymerase mediated synthesis of the complementary strand ( i . e ., scorpion ™ or molecular beacon ™ probes ). various methods for conducting qrt - pcr analysis to quantitate mrna levels are well characterized ( bustin , s . a . ; journal of molecular endocrinology 29 , 23 , 2002 ). fluorescent probes that are activated by the action of enzymes that recognize mismatched nucleic acid complexes ( i . e ., invader ™, third wave technologies , madison , wis .) can also be used to quantitate rna . those skilled in the art will also understand that rna quantitation techniques such as quantitative nucleic acid sequence based amplification ( q - nasba ™) can be used to quantitate tic807 protein - encoding mrna and identify expressing plants . commercially available kits for quantitating hcv rna include the cob as ™ taqman hcv test ( taqman hcv ; roche molecular systems inc ., branchburg , n . j .). hcvcc that comprise reporter genes are also available , thus allowing the quantification of infection following challenge similarly to the methods described for hcvpp . to identify agents that inhibit interactions of hcv regions with occludin , a variety of different libraries can be queried . bacteriophage libraries comprising phage vectors that display antibody antigen recognition regions are one potential source of occludin recognition agents and have been described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 265 , 150 . methods for generating libraries of antigen - combining proteins of high diversity are described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 780 , 225 and u . s . pat . no . 6 , 303 , 313 . methods of using libraries to obtain antigen recognition regions are also described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 395 , 750 . methods of obtaining a nucleic acid encoding a binding protein having a proteinaceous binding domain that binds a predetermined target material are described in u . s . pat . no . 5 , 223 , 409 . yeast antibody display libraries can also be used to obtain antigen recognition regions and as described in u . s . pat . no . 6 , 300 , 065 . those skilled in the art will recognize that such antigen recognition sequences can subsequently be isolated from the recombinant phage , bacterial or yeast vector and reengineered into a synthetic antibody appropriate for use in subjects . reengineering of these recognition domains into humanized antibodies is particularly contemplated . kits for identifying compounds or agent that prevent or mitigate interaction of a region of a hepatitis c virus with a region of a occludin protein . in the particular embodiments contemplated herein , the methods and kits detect interactions of a region of hcv with an occludin protein . a kit may contain any of : i ) a recombinant protein comprising an occludin protein or conservative amino acid substitutions thereof , or ii ) a recombinant vector that provides for expression of an occludin protein expressing an extra - cellular loop , or iii ) a cell comprising said recombinant vector and instructions for using the kit . the kit may also contain reagent ( s ) for detecting an interaction between a sample comprising hcv , hcvcc , hcvpp , hcv envelope proteins and the aforementioned recombinant proteins , vectors or cells comprising an occludin protein . the provided reagent ( s ) can be radio -, spectrophotometrically -, fluorescently - or enzymatically - labeled . the provided reagents can also be detectably labeled by other materials . the provided reagents may include a substrate that is converted to a product that can be detected by spectrophotometry , luminometry , or fluorescence . the kit can contain a known radiolabeled or hapten - labeled agent capable of binding or interacting with an antibody of the present invention . the reagent ( s ) of the kit may be provided as a liquid solution , attached or otherwise deposited in or on a solid support or as a dried powder . preferably , when the reagent ( s ) are provided in a liquid solution , the liquid solution is an aqueous solution . preferably , when the reagent ( s ) provided are attached to , or otherwise deposited on a solid support , the solid support can be chromatography media , a test plate having a plurality of wells , or a microscope slide . when the reagent ( s ) provided are a dry powder , the powder can be reconstituted by the addition of a suitable solvent , that may be provided . the container will generally include a vial into which the recombinant protein , recombinant vector , cells or detection reagent may be placed , and preferably suitably aliquotted . the kits of the present invention will also typically include a means for containing the recombinant protein , recombinant vector and / or cells in a container in close confinement for commercial sale . such containers may include injection or blow - molded plastic containers into which the desired vials are retained . however , it is also contemplated that such kits may be assembled not for commercial sale , but for internal use within a research group . thus the usefulness of such kits is not restricted to commercial sales . the instructions for the kit may either be enclosed in the kit or provided by way of reference to a external or internal website or other internal or external document or reference . the embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its practical application to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the invention in various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated . 293t , 786 - o , aml12 , h2 . 35 , hep3b , hepa1 . 6 , hepg2 , huh - 7 . 5 , l929 , nih3t3 , sto6 and tzm cells were maintained in dmem with 10 % fetal bovine serum ( fbs ). cho cells were maintained in dmem / f - 12 with 10 % fbs . hepg2 were grown on collagen coated plastic . a mouse monoclonal antibody against ocln ( clone oc - 3f10 ) was purchased from zymed laboratories ( san francisco , calif .). mouse anti - cd81 1 . 3 . 3 . 22 was obtained from santa cruz biotechnology ( santa cruz , calif .). purified mouse igg1 was from bd pharmingen ( franklin lakes , n . j .). the mouse anti - ns5a antibody 9e10 ( 15 ) and human anti - sr - bi antibody c167 ( 5 ) have previously been described . alexa fluor488 conjugated anti - mouse igg secondary antibodies were obtained from invitrogen ( carlsbad , calif .) and r - phyco - erythrin ( pe ) goat anti - mouse igg secondary antibodies were obtained from jackson immunoresearch laboratories , inc . ( west grove , pa .). anti human igg4 antibodies and streptavidin apc were obtained from bd biosciences pharmingen ( san diego , calif .). as described below , an nih3t3 clone expressing human cd81 , sr - bi , and cldn1 was derived by progressive transduction with vsvg - packaged proviruses followed by cell sorting . these proviral genomes were based on the ptrip ( 23 , 27 ) self - inactivating lentiviral provirus that does not express hiv proteins , but instead employs an internal cmv promoter to express cloned genes . previously described trip lentiviral plasmids include trip - cd81 ( 28 ), and trip - mcherry - cldn1 ( 11 ). trip - hsr - bi was cloned by amplifying the human sr - bi orf with primers 5 ′ gac gag ctg tac aga tct aga atg ggc tgc tcc gcc aaa gcg cgc tgg ( seq id no : 1 ) and 5 ′ g gcg gtc gac cta cag ttt tgc ttc ctg cag cac aga ( seq id no : 2 ). this product was cloned as a bgiii / sali fragment into bamhi / xhoi digested trip - gfp , thus replacing the gfp coding sequence . trip - msr - bi , was constructed by amplifying the mouse sr - bi orf with primers 5 ′ gac gag ctg tac aga tct aga atg ggc ggc agc tcc agg gcg cgc tgg ( seq id no : 3 ) and 5 ′ ggcg ctc gag cta tag ctt ggc ttc ttg cag cac cgt ( seq id no : 4 ). this fragment was then cloned as a bgiii / xhoi fragment into bamhi / xhoi digested trip - gfp , thus replacing the gfp coding sequence . the csgw and cspw plasmids have been previously described ( 9 ). lmn8 - hocln was created by cloning the rescued rt - pcr product with pmii and sfil into lmn8sfillink ( see description below ). for amplification of human and mouse ocln , expressed sequence tag ( est ) clones ( mgc irat human 5179203 and llam 3658586 , respectively ) constructed by the integrated molecular analysis of genome expression ( i . m . a . g . e .) consortium ( image . llnl . gov ) were obtained from the american type culture collection ( atcc , manassas , va .). trip - hocln was constructed by amplifying the complete ocln orf with primers 5 ′ gac gag ctg tac aga tct aga atg tca tcc agg cct ctt gaa ( seq id no : 5 ) and 5 ′ gggg ctcgag cta tgt ttt ctg tct atc ata gtc ( seq id no : 6 ) and this pcr product was cloned as a partial bgiii / xhoi fragment into ptrip at the bamhi and xhoi sites . the same pcr product was cloned as a partial bsrgi / xhoi fragment into trip - gfp , creating a gfp - hocln fusion termed trip - gfp - hocln . in most derivatives of this plasmid the bgiii site in the hocln orf was disrupted by inserting silent mutants by overlapping pcr ( aga tct gaa to agg tcc gaa ), facilitating cloning . as an alternative to gfp , the trip - venus fluorescent protein lentiviral expression plasmid was created by amplifying the venus ( 18 ) orf ( provided by atsushi miyawaki , riken , saitama , japan ) with the primers 5 ′ gggg gga tcc gga atg gtg agc aag ggc gag gag ctg ttc ( seq id no : 7 ) and 5 ′ ggg ctcgag tta ctt gta gag ctc gtc cat gcc gag agt gat ( seq id no : 8 ). the resulting product was cloned as a bamhi / xhoi digested fragment into ptrip - gfp digested with the same enzymes . trip - venus - hocln was constructed by cloning the above hocln pcr product as a partial bsrgi / xhoi fragment into trip - venus . trip - mocln was constructed by amplifying the mouse ocln orf with the primers 5 ′ gac gag ctg tac aga tct aga atg tcc gtg agg cct ttt gaa agt cca ( seq id no : 9 ) and 5 ′ gggg ctcgag cta agg ttt ccg tct gtc ata atc ( seq id no : 10 ) ( an internal bgiii site was disrupted by silent mutaganesis , ata aga tct gga ( seq id no : 11 ) to ata agg tcc gga ( seq id no : 12 )). this product was cloned as a bgiii / xhoi fragment into the bamhi / xhoi sites of trip - gfp , and as a partial bsrgi / xhoi fragment into like digested trip - gfp , to create trip - gfp - mocln , and trip - venus , to create trip - venus - mocln . mouse / human chimaeras were created in the trip - venus context by overlapping pcr amplification , as previously described for the construction of cldn1 / cldn7 chimaeras ( 11 ). identical methods and primers that were used to create trip - venus were used to construct a lentiviral vector expressing the cerulean fluorescent protein ( 21 ), termed trip - cerulean . a ndei / bsrgi fragment from this plasmid was cloned in place of the gfp orf in trip - gfp - hcldn1 and trip - gfp - mcldn1 ( 11 ) to create trip - cerulean - hcldn1 and trip - cerulean - mcldn1 . trip - mcherry - hcd81 , which expresses a fusion of the mcherry fluorescent protein at the n - terminus of human cd81 , was constructed by amplifying the cd81 orf from trip - hcd81 ( 13 ) with the primers 5 ′ gag ctg tac aag gga tcc gtc atg gga gtg gag ggc tgc acc aag tgc atc ( seq id no : 13 ) and 5 ′ gggg ctcgag tca gta cac gga gct gtt ccg gat gcc aca ( seq id no : 14 ), which was cloned as a bsrgi / xhoi digested fragment into trip - mcherry - cldn1 ( 11 ). trip - mcherry - mcd81 , expressing mouse cd81 , was amplified with the same primers using trip - mcd81 ( 13 ) as template and cloned in an identical manner . the retroviral huh - 7 . 5 cell cdna library was constructed essentially as previously described ( 11 ), except the cdna inserts were cloned into a mlv based proviral vector , termed lmn8sfillink ( gift from paul d . bieniasz , the aaron diamond aids research center , the rockefeller university ) instead of the hiv - 1 based pv1 vector . lmn8sfillink is based on the pbmn - z mlv provirus , which is an mlv genome containing retroviral ltrs and packaging signal ; it does not express any viral proteins and instead encodes the lacz gene . to generate lmn8 , the lacz gene was replaced with two sfil sites suitable for cloning of cdna according to the smart cdna library construction kit ( clontech , mountain view , calif .). the final lmn8 huh7 . 5 cdna library contained 4 × 10 7 clones , 65 % of which had inserts averaging 1 , 300 bp in size . lmn8gfp is a variation of this plasmid , where the egfp gene was inserted at the sfil sites of lmn8sfillink . all pseudoparticles were generated by co - transfection of plasmids encoding ( 1 ) a provirus containing the desired reporter gene or transgene , ( 2 ) either mlv or hiv gag - pol and ( 3 ) an appropriate envelope glycoprotein . unless otherwise noted hcvpp used in this study were generated using the h77 e1e2 sequence ( residues 170 - 746 ) ( 12 ). other e1e2 sequences ( con1 , oh8 , s52 , ed43 , sa13 ) used for hcvpp generation have been described previously ( 17 ). one day prior to transfection 8 × 10 5 293t cells were seeded in a 35 mm 2 dish . a total of 1 . 5 μg dna was transfected using 6 μl fugene 6 ( roche applied science , indianapolis , ind .) and media was replaced after 6 h . supernatants were harvested at 24 h , 48 h and 72 h after transfection , pooled and filtered ( 0 . 45 μm pore size ). the following plasmid combinations and ratios ( by weight ) were used : to generate gfp or puromycin reporter hcvpp and controls , plasmids encoding ( 1 ) a provirus encoding the respective reporter gene ( csgw or cspw ), ( 2 ) hiv gag - pol and ( 3 ) either hcv strain h77 e1e2 , vsv - g or empty vector were transfected at a 1 : 1 : 4 ratio . to generate pseudoparticles for transgene delivery , plasmids encoding ( 1 ) a ptrip provirus containing the desired transgene , ( 2 ) hiv gag - pol and ( 3 ) vsv - g were co - transfected at a 7 : 7 : 1 ratio . for packaging of the cdna library , plasmids encoding ( 1 ) either a lmn8 provirus containing the desired transgene , ( 2 ) mlv gag - pol and ( 3 ) vsvg were co - transfected at a 7 : 7 : 1 ratio . ( for details on pseudoparticle generation in the context of cyclic repackaging see below .) all transductions and infection assays using pseudoparticles were performed in the presence of 4 μg / ml polybrene . for infection assays with gfp reporter hcvpp , 2 × 10 4 cells were plated in 48 - well - plates . the next day the cells were infected with pseudoparticles for 6 h . the media was changed and cells were further cultured for 72 h prior to harvesting and fixation with 0 . 5 % w / v paraformaldehyde . gfp expression was quantified using a lsr2 flow cytometer ( becton dickinson , franklin lakes , n . j .). the background gfp signal from non - enveloped pseudoparticles ( env - pp ) was subtracted from the vsvgpp and hcvpp signals , the hcvpp signal was then normalized to vsvgpp infectivity [( hcvpp - ne )/( vsvg - ne )] and then normalized to hcvpp infectivity in huh - 7 . 5 cells to allow for cross - experimental comparison . except where noted otherwise , results of infection experiments are the mean of greater than three independent infections , and , in the case of the chimaera and mutant ocln analysis , of at least two independently transduced populations . errors bars represent the standard deviation of the mean . nih3t3 mouse embryonic fibroblasts were transduced with vsvgpp encoding trip lentivirus expressed human cd81 , sr - bi or n - terminally - mcherry - tagged cldn1 . expression was visualized using antibodies against human cd81 in combination with an alexa - 488 conjugated goat - anti - mouse - igg antibodies against human sr - bi in combination with a biotinylated anti - human igg4 and streptavidin apc or by direct mcherry fluorescence detection . clonal populations were generated by single cell sorting using an facs aria cell sorter ( becton dickinson , franklin lakes , n . j .) and clones with similar expression levels as huh - 7 . 5 cells were selected for the next round of transduction . this procedure was repeated to obtain cell clones stably expressing human homologues of cd81 , sr - bi and cldn1 in single , double and triple combinations . the final triple transduced clone expressing all three human proteins was designated nih3t3 n3xf26 . in order to directly correlate expression of lentivirus - delivered transgenes and hcvpp permissiveness , we used multi - colour flow cytometry . fluorescence from hcvpp infection ( gfp ), cd81 ( mcherry ), sr - bi ( apc staining ), cldn1 ( cerulean ) and ocln ( venus ) was distinguished on a lsr2 flow cytometer ( becton dickinson , franklin lakes , n . j .). a schematic overview of the iterative library screening approach is provided in fig4 a . cdna cloned into the retroviral lmn8 vector was packaged into mlv - based pseudoparticles bearing the vsv - g glycoprotein as described above . since the lmn8 vector does not encode a reporter gene , the titer of pseudoparticles carrying the human cdna library was estimated by extrapolating the titer from lmn8 - egfp pseudoparticles that were generated in parallel . the estimated titers were then used to approximate the effective titer of the library virus on the cell line of interest , based on the measurable infectivity of gfp on the cell line of interest . vsvgpp carrying the lmn8 - library were then used to transduce nih3t3 expressing human cd81 , sr - bi and mcherry - cldn1 ( n3xf26 ) cells at a multiplicity of infection of about 1 . approximately 1 × 10 7 cells were transduced for the first round of screening ; lower numbers were used in subsequent rounds . cells expressing the library were challenged with hcvpp carrying a puromycin ( cspw ) selection marker , with antibiotic selection was applied after 48 h . surviving cell clones were pooled and transfected with mlv gag - pol and vsv - g to re - package the lmn8 / cdna genomes present in these cells into pseudoparticles and deliver them to a naïve population of n3xf26 cells for additional rounds of selection . we performed a total of three selection steps , i . e . library delivery , infection with hcvpp encoding puromycin resistance followed by selection with puromycin . after each selection step a fraction of the population was challenged with gfp reporter env - pp , hcvpp and vsvgpp to monitor for the appearance of an hcvpp - susceptible subpopulation ( fig4 b ). single cell clones of the final triple selected population were derived and the genomic dna from these clones was prepared with the dneasy tissue kit ( qiagen , valencia , calif .) according to the manufacturer &# 39 ; s protocol . the cdna lmn8 inserts were amplified with primers specific for the lmn8 sequence flanking the cdna cloning site , 5 ′ accgccctcaaagtagac ( seq id no : 15 ) and 5 ′ gcttgccaaacctacagg ( seq id no : 16 ). these pcr products were ta cloned and sequenced . jc1 flag ( p7 - nsgluc2a ), used for the experiments in this study was previously described ( 16 ). hcvcc was generated as previously reported ( 15 ). hcvcc was collected from supernatants 48 - 72 h after transfection . infectious units ( as median tissue culture infective dose [ tcid50 ]) were quantified by limiting dilution titration on naive huh - 7 . 5 cells . for infection experiments huh - 7 . 5 cells were seeded in 48 well plates . the next day hcvcc containing supernatant was applied and , after 72 h , infection was detected by staining for ns5a with the 9e10 anti - ns5a as primary and a pe - conjugated goat anti - mouse secondary antibody ; the signal was quantified by flow - cytometrical analysis . to quantify expression of hcv entry factors in various cell lines , total rna was isolated using a qiagen rna isolation kit ( valencia , calif .). cdna was synthesized according to manufacturers instructions using a retroscript first strand synthesis kit ( ambion , austin , tex .). quantitative pcr was performed with a light cycler lc480 machine ( roche applied science , indianapolis , ind .) using a sybr green quantitect primer assay ( qiagen ) in combination with the following gene specific primer pairs : gene forward primer reverse primer cd81 acctcctgtatctggagctgg ttggcgatctggtccttgttg ( seq id no : 17 ) ( seq id no : 18 ) sr - bi tcgcaggcattggacaaact ctccttatcctttgagccctttt ( seq id no : 19 ) ( seq id no : 20 ) cldn1 gtggaggatttactcctatgccg atcaaggcacgggttgctt ( seq id no : 21 ) ( seq id no : 22 ) ocln tcaaaccgaatcattatgcacca agatggcaatgcacatcacaa ( seq id no : 23 ) ( seq id no : 24 ) gapdh aggtcggtgtgaacggatttg tgtagaccatgtagttgaggtca ( seq id no : 25 ) ( seq id no : 26 ) analysis of hcv entry receptor expression in cho cells and hamster liver for the analysis of hcv entry receptor expression in cho cells and hamster liver the following pcr primers were used to amplify the hamster specific genes : gene forward primer reverse primer cd81 gtggagggctgcaccaaat ggcgcaaccacagagccaca ( seq id no : 27 ) ( seq id no : 28 ) sr - bi tttggagtggtagtaaaaagggc tgacatcagagactcagagtag ( seq id no : 29 ) ( seq id no : 30 ) cldn1 agatgtggatggctgtcattgg aagagcaagaaagtagggcacctc ( seq id no : 31 ) ( seq id no : 32 ) ocln cagcaaaggtttcctgttggc tgggcagttgggttgactcc ( seq id no : 33 ) ( seq id no : 34 ) gapdh gtattggacgcctggttacca ggtagagtcatactggaacatgtac ( seq id no : 35 ) ( seq id no : 36 ) analysis of hcv entry receptor expression in mouse cells and mouse liver for the analysis of hcv entry receptor expression in mouse cells and mouse liver the following pcr primers were used to amplify the mouse specific genes : gene forward primer reverse primer cd81 gtggagggctgcaccaaat gacgcaaccacagagctaca ( seq id no : 37 ) ( seq id no : 38 ) sr - bi tttggagtggtagtaaaaagggc tgacatcagggactcagagtag ( seq id no : 39 ) ( seq id no : 40 ) cldn1 aagtcttcgactccttgctga tgtcgccagacctgaaattaaaa ( seq id no : 41 ) ( seq id no : 42 ) ocln tttttgctgtgaaaacccgaag ctgtcaactctttccgcatagt ( seq id no : 43 ) ( seq id no : 44 ) gapdh aatcccatcaccatcttcc catcacgccacagtttcc ( seq id no : 45 ) ( seq id no : 46 ) pools of sirnas directed against human cd81 , human ocln and non - targeting sirnas ( on - targetplus smartpools ) were purchased from dharmacon ( lafayette , colo .). huh - 7 . 5 and hep3b cells were reverse transfected according to manufacturers instructions . briefly , for transfection 0 . 5 μl rnaimax ( invitrogen , carlsbad , calif .) and 50 pmol sirna were used per well . 1 × 10 4 cells per well were seeded with the transfection mix in 48 - well plates . at 48 h post - transfection and seeding , protein expression was flow - cytometrically determined and infection assays were performed . human - nm — 002538 14 sep . 2008 ( dna sequence of seq id no : 47 ; protein sequence of seq id no : 48 ). all statistical analyses were performed using prism4 software ( graphpad software , san diego , calif .). 1 . bartosch , b ., j . bukh , j . c . meunier , c . granier , r . e . engle , w . c . blackwelder , s . u . emerson , f . l . cosset , and r . h . purcell . 2003 . in vitro assay for neutralizing antibody to hepatitis c virus : evidence for broadly conserved neutralization epitopes . proc natl acad sci usa 100 : 14199 - 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