丙肝病毒迄今最详细的图像

Scientists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI) have determined¹ the most detailed² picture yet of a crucial part of the hepatitis（肝炎） C virus, which the virus uses to infect liver cells. The new data reveal unexpected structural³ features of this protein and should greatly speed efforts to make an effective hepatitis C vaccine⁴. The findings, which appear in the November 29, 2013 issue of the journal Science, focus on a protein known as E2 envelope glycoprotein（包膜糖蛋白）.   "We're excited by this development," said Ian A. Wilson, the Hansen Professor of Structural Biology at TSRI and a senior author of the new research with TSRI Assistant Professors Mansun Law and Andrew B. Ward⁵. "It has been very hard to get a high resolution structure of E2 and it took years of painstaking⁶ work to finally accomplish that."   Any successful hepatitis C vaccine is likely to target the E2 protein. Scientists already have isolated⁷ rare antibodies from patients that can bind⁸ E2 in ways that neutralize⁹ a broad range of viral strains.   "It took our team six years to crack this very difficult scientific problem, but we didn't give up," said Law. "Now that we can visualize¹⁰ the structural details of these binding¹¹ sites, we can design vaccine molecules¹² that mimic¹³ them."