The impact of viral sequence on the pathological status of the post-antiviral therapeutic liver analyzed by single molecular sequencing.

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 20K08281
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 53010:Gastroenterology-related
• Research Institution: University of Yamanashi
• Principal Investigator: Maekawa Shinya 山梨大学, 大学院総合研究部, 特任教授 (70397298)
• Project Period (FY): 2020-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 肝炎ウイルス制御後 / 原発性肝癌 / HCV / 次世代シークエンサー / 自然免疫 / ウイルスゲノム / 宿主遺伝子

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, the Nanopore system, a single molecule sequencer, has been improved to analyze the genomic information of HCV as quasispecies of the full-length viral genome, whereas conventional next-generation sequencers can only detect genomic information as quasispecies of viral fragments, making it possible to clarify the relationship between the pathogenesis and the virus. This system has made it possible to elucidate the relationship between the pathogenesis and the virus more thoroughly. Using this system, mutations in the E1/E2 and NS5A regions at distant locations on the viral genome were shown to be synchronized with each other and related to disease progression.

Free Research Field

ウイルス性肝炎

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

従来断片的なウイルスゲノム解析以外は不可能であったウイルス変異体解析において、近年の技術革新で登場した高精度にロングリード可能な1分子シークエンシングシステムを導入し、完全長肝炎ウイルスゲノムの変異・quasispecies情報を取得することにより、ウイルス制御後の病態進展におけるウイルスゲノムの意義を嘗てないレベルで明らかにすることが可能となった。