Hepatitis C virus non-structural protein 3 interacts with cytosolic 5'(3')-deoxyribonucleotidase and partially inhibits its activity.

Infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV) is etiologically involved in liver cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma and B-cell lymphomas. It has been demonstrated previously that HCV non-structural protein 3 (NS3) is involved in cell transformation. In this study, a yeast two-hybrid screening experiment was conducted to identify cellular proteins interacting with HCV NS3 protein. Cytosolic 5'(3')-deoxyribonucleotidase (cdN, dNT-1) was found to interact with HCV NS3 protein. Binding domains of HCV NS3 and cellular cdN proteins were also determined using the yeast two-hybrid system. Interactions between HCV NS3 and cdN proteins were further demonstrated by co-immunoprecipitation and confocal analysis in cultured cells. The cellular cdN activity was partially repressed by NS3 protein in both the transiently-transfected and the stably-transfected systems. Furthermore, HCV partially repressed the cdN activity while had no effect on its protein expression in the systems of HCV sub-genomic replicons and infectious HCV virions. Deoxyribonucleotidases are present in most mammalian cells and involve in the regulation of intracellular deoxyribonucleotides pools by substrate cycles. Control of DNA precursor concentration is essential for the maintenance of genetic stability. Reduction of cdN activity would result in the imbalance of DNA precursor concentrations. Thus, our results suggested that HCV partially reduced the cdN activity via its NS3 protein and this may in turn cause diseases.