Inhibition of internal ribosomal entry site-directed translation of HCV by recombinant IFN-alpha correlates with a reduced La protein.

Translation of the hepatitis C virus (HCV) polyprotein is mediated by an internal ribosome entry site (IRES) that is located within the 5'-nontranslated region (5'NTR). We investigated the effect of interferon alfa (IFN-alpha) on the IRES-directed translation of HCV, using two stably transformed cell lines, RCF-1 and RCF-26, of Huh7 cells derived from human hepatocellular carcinoma that express dicistronic reporter proteins, Renilla luciferase (RL) and firefly luciferase (FL), separated by HCV-IRES. After the administration of IFN-alpha or poly(I)-poly(C), HCV-IRES-directed translation was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner. The relative HCV-IRES activity (F/L) decreased to 60% at 5,000 IU/mL of IFN-alpha and 45% at 40 microg/mL of poly(I)-poly(C). Thus, IFN-alpha or poly(I)-poly(C) inhibited HCV-IRES-directed translation more efficiently than a cellular cap-dependent translation. 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase (2',5'AS) protein level in cells analyzed significantly increased after the administration of IFN-alpha, but not upon poly(I)-poly(C). Overexpression of double-stranded RNA-activated protein kinase (PKR) gene did not mimic the selective inhibition of HCV-IRES-directed translation in the transformant cells, suggesting that neither the 2',5'AS nor the PKR system are involved in this selective inhibition. Interestingly, the expression of the autoantigen, La, which has been reported to enhance HCV-IRES-directed translation, was significantly reduced after the administration of IFN-alpha and poly(I)-poly(C) in a dose-dependent manner. Transient expression of La protein completely restored the selective inhibition of HCV-IRES-directed translation by IFN-alpha and poly(I)-poly(C). These findings suggested a new antiviral mechanism induced by IFN-alpha in that IFN-alpha or poly(I)-poly(C) selectively inhibited HCV-IRES-directed translation compared with the eukaryotic cap-dependent translation through the reduction of La protein.