UC San Diego

Cellular peroxisomes function in detoxification of reactive oxygen species (ROS), [Beta]-oxidation of lipids, and innate immune defense, cooperatively with the mitochondria. Hepatitis C virus perturbs these cellular functions and the organelles involved to promote a lipid and ROS rich cellular microenvironment, favorable for hepatitis C virus (HCV) proliferation. Several groups have also shown that HCV utilizes the host autophagy machinery for its replication. In addition, the induction of autophagy by HCV also serves to restrain the cellular innate immune defense mechanisms. In this study, we investigated HCV mediated induction of selective autophagic degradation of peroxisomes, or pexophagy. Our conclusions, using a series of standard experimental procedures, show that peroxisomes undergo a complete autophagy under HCV infection