Hepatitis C virus NS5A and core protein induce fibrosis-related genes regulation on Huh7 cells through activation of LX2 cells.

We demonstrated that HCV NS5A and Core protein expression regulate LX2 activation. NS5A and Core-induced LX2 activation, in turn, regulates diverse fibrosis-related gene expression at different levels in Huh7, which can be further analyzed as potential antifibrotic targets during HCV infection.