Viral Pathogens Essay

Viral pathogens use liver cells to replicate, then attach to their lipid droplets to to accumulate, assemble and bud off into the rest of the body. Liver produces and secretes LDL, VLDL and HDL which are taken up by every cell in the body that uses cholesterol, including the liver cells that take them up too.2 Viruses hijack these lipoproteins and use them to get into the liver cells, where they replicate, which opens up a gateway to the rest of the body. They replicate within the endoplasmic reticulum and then use the lipid droplets as scaffolds. After budding off they’re still inside the liver cell where they either accumulate and burst the cell to be released or attach to a VLDL and get transported out. In addition to using lipoproteins, viral pathogens interact with the lipid composition of a membrane to gain entry into a cell. They can gain entry by interacting directly with the lipid component or with the other components usually glycosphingolipids and using them as a receptor.1 Other viruses require a specific lipid composition such as lipid rafts that are rich in cholesterol and take advantage of the clustering of receptors there.1 Attachment to the lipid membrane is advantageous to the virus as endocytosis uses (PI)-3 kinase …show more content…
It is a small, enveloped, single stranded RNA virus of the Flaviviridae family.2 It affects more than 170 million people worldwide most commonly in Africa, East and Central Asia, up to 80% are unable to clear the virus which leads to a chronic infection.3 Chronic infections lead to liver disease and cirrhosis, these cause symptoms such as liver failure and liver cancer. There is no vaccine for Hepatitis C and it usually spreads through blood-to-blood contact such intravenous drugs or blood transfusions. While the initial virus is curable, if it does lead to liver failure or cancer, the person will require a liver transplant because a cure would not be