Enhanced hepatitis C virus genome replication and lipid accumulation mediated by inhibition of AMP-activated protein kinase

Jamel Mankouri, Philip R. Tedbury, Sarah Gretton, Mair E. Hughes, Stephen D. C. Griffin, Mark. L. Dallas, Kevin A. Green, D. Grahame Hardie, Chris Peers, Mark Harris

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    125 Citations (Scopus)

    Abstract

    Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is associated with dysregulation of both lipid and glucose metabolism. As well as contributing to viral replication, these perturbations influence the pathogenesis associated with the virus, including steatosis, insulin resistance, and type 2 diabetes. AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK) plays a key role in regulation of both lipid and glucose metabolism. We show here that, in cells either infected with HCV or harboring an HCV subgenomic replicon, phosphorylation of AMPK at threonine 172 and concomitant AMPK activity are dramatically reduced. We demonstrate that this effect is mediated by activation of the serine/threonine kinase, protein kinase B, which inhibits AMPK by phosphorylating serine 485. The physiological significance of this inhibition is demonstrated by the observation that pharmacological restoration of AMPK activity not only abrogates the lipid accumulation observed in virus-infected and subgenomic replicon-harboring cells but also efficiently inhibits viral replication. These data demonstrate that inhibition of AMPK is required for HCV replication and that the restoration of AMPK activity may present a target for much needed anti-HCV therapies.

    Original languageEnglish
    Pages (from-to)11549-11554
    Number of pages6
    JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
    Volume107
    Issue number25
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 22 Jun 2010

    Keywords

    • INSULIN-RESISTANCE
    • RNA REPLICATION
    • EXPRESSION
    • PHOSPHORYLATION
    • INFECTION
    • METFORMIN
    • ALPHA
    • CELLS
    • CHOLESTEROL
    • STEATOSIS

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