Hepatitis C Treatment's Side Effects Can Now Be Studied in the Lab (3 of 3) (IMAGE)

Penn State

Hepatitis C Treatment's Side Effects Can Now Be Studied in the Lab (3 of 3)

Caption

The adverse side effects of certain hepatitis C medications can now be replicated and observed in Petri dishes and test tubes, thanks to a research team led by a Penn State University scientist. The new method helps to understand recent failures of hepatitis C antiviral drugs in some patients in clinical trials, and it also could help to identify medications that eliminate all adverse effects. The team's findings, which will be published in the journal PLOS Pathogens, may help to pave the way toward the development of safer and more-effective treatments for hepatitis C, as well as other pathogens such as SARS and West Nile virus. This image is an illustration of an antiviral drug without adverse effects. The ideal situation is to design a drug that would get into the viral RNA only, but not into the mitochondrial RNA.

Credit

Craig Cameron lab, Penn State University

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