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Letter

Nature Chemical Biology 1, 333–337 (1 November 2005) | doi:10.1038/nchembio742

Host sphingolipid biosynthesis as a target for hepatitis C virus therapy

Hiroshi Sakamoto , Koichi Okamoto , Masahiro Aoki , Hideyuki Kato , Asao Katsume , Atsunori Ohta , Takuo Tsukuda , Nobuo Shimma , Yuko Aoki , Mikio Arisawa , Michinori Kohara & Masayuki Sudoh

An estimated 170 million individuals worldwide are infected with hepatitis C virus (HCV), a serious cause of chronic liver disease. Current interferon-based therapy for treating HCV infection has an unsatisfactory cure rate, and the development of more efficient drugs is needed.