Hepatitis C virus envelope glycoprotein signatures are associated with treatment failure and modulation of viral entry and neutralization.

Background: A major challenge for antiviral treatment of hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is viral resistance, potentially resulting from the high variability of HCV envelope glycoproteins and subsequent selection of strains with enhanced infectivity and/or immune escape.

Methods: We used a bioinformatics and functional approach to investigate whether E1/E2 envelope glycoprotein structure and function were associated with treatment failure in 92 patients infected with HCV genotype 1.

Results: Bioinformatics analysis identified 1 sustain virological response (R)-related residue in E1 (219T) and 2 non-SVR (NR)-related molecular signatures in E2 (431A and 642V) in HCV genotype 1a.