[Construction of full-length complementary DNA of hepatitis C virus genome from an HCV infected patient].

Background: To construct the full-length complementary DNA of HCV genome from an HCV infected patient.

Methods: Four HCV gene fragments (1.6, 3.

Establishment of a cell-based assay system for hepatitis C virus serine protease and its primary applications.

Aim: To establish an efficient, sensitive, cell-based assay system for NS3 serine protease in an effort to study further the property of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and develop new antiviral agents.

Methods: We constructed pCI-neo-NS3/4A-SEAP chimeric plasmid, in which the secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP) was fused in-frame to the downstream of NS4A/4B cleavage site. The protease activity of NS3 was reflected by the activity of SEAP in the culture media of transient or stable expression cells.