摘要 : Widely known as a worldwide leading cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatitis C virus (HCV) has also acquired some notoriety among virologists for being a difficult pathogen to study. Accordingl... 展开 Widely known as a worldwide leading cause of chronic hepatitis, cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma, hepatitis C virus (HCV) has also acquired some notoriety among virologists for being a difficult pathogen to study. Accordingly, the mechanisms by which hepatitis C virus (HCV) enters and infects host cells are incompletely understood. Numerous cell surface molecules, including the tetraspanin CD81, scavenger receptor BI (SR-BI) and low-density lipoprotein receptor (LDLR), have been put forward as potential HCV (co-)receptors, yet it remains unclear which ones are critical for successful infection in vivo. As discussed below, this is mostly due to the limitations of the experimental systems available to study the HCV lifecycle and uncertainties as to whether they faithfully represent the properties of HCV in vivo. 收起