Fiscal Year:
2002
Title:
ANTIVIRAL SCREENING ASSAYS BASED ON HCV REPLICONS
Agency:
HHS
Contract:
2R44AI049604-02
Award Amount:
$750,000.00
Abstract:
DESCRIPTION (Provided by applicant): Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is the most
prevalent chronic blood-borne infection in the U.S and a global health problem.
Approximately 4 million individuals in the U.S. and 170 million individuals
worldwide are chronically infected. As much as 40 percent of chronic liver
disease is HCV related and this results in up to 10,000 deaths each year.
Despite improvements, treatment of remains suboptimal, and new therapeutic
options are critically needed. Apath, LLC has developed cell-based assays for
testing and screening of compounds with antiviral activity against hepatitis C
virus (HCV). These assays are based on Huh7 cell lines that contain a
constructively replicating subgenomic HCV replicon. The cells have been
analyzed extensively and have been demonstrated to contain an HCV replicon that
exhibits autonomous HCV RNA replication. We have promoted these cell lines as
drug-discovery tools by formatting assays for compound screening that are
amenable to high throughput screening. In this Phase II proposal we describe
our plans to use these cell-based assays to identify compounds with anti-HCV
activity. Toward this goal we will plan to utilize a unique source of natural
compounds and to screen over 40,000 wells containing up to 200,000 discrete
compounds to identify "hits" that inhibit replication of the HCV replicon. We
will confirm antiviral activity of all "hits" in secondary HCV replicon
quantitation and cytotoxicity assays. We will identify compounds with the most
promising chemical and biological profiles to pursue as potential anti-HCV
drugs. We also plan to identify targets of leads through biochemical and
genetic approaches.
Small Business Information at Submission:
APATH, LLC
893 N. WARSON RD. ST. LOUIS, MO 63141
EIN/Tax ID:
431828778
DUNS:
N/A
Number of Employees:
N/A
Woman-Owned:
No
Minority-Owned:
No
HUBZone-Owned:
No