Odia researcher among experts who ‘cracked’ hepatitis A mystery
Anshuman Das
BHUBANESWAR: How hepatitis A virus manages to enter into human liver cells and cause infection has remained a mystery for 50 years until now. A breakthrough seems to have been achieved by a research team that comprises, among others, Anshuman Das (33) from Odisha.
The team of experts working at the laboratory of Stanley M. Lemon at the University of North Carolina, claims to have discovered the key player that causes hepatitis A virus (HAV) infection in human liver cells.
Published in the prestigious journal ‘Nature Microbiology’, the study says gangliosides — sugary fatty acid molecules present on the surface of human cells — work as receptors for HAV, helping it enter liver cells and initiate infection.
“HAV is spread through contaminated food and water. The virus is responsible for causing jaundice,” said Das, currently a postdoctoral research associate at Duke University, who completed his MSc in microbiology from Odisha University of Agriculture and Technology here.
Although scientists had identified the receptors (which allow the virus to enter cells) of hepatitis B and C viruses, the identity of the receptors of HAV had posed a puzzle.
“For 20 years, experts believed that human protein TIM1 is the receptor of HAV. Our research found that HAV infection occurs even after we remove TIM1 from the liver cells,” said Das, son of former English professor and social activist Shisir Kumar Das of Bhubaneswar.
The team used CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to find genes that allow HAV to invade liver cells. “We found gangliosides working as receptors for HAV. They interact with the virus and allow it to release its genes within the cells,” he said, adding the hepatitis A virus gets stuck inside the cell and cannot reproduce in the absence of gangliosides.
While a vaccine exists to protect people from HAV infection, there is no anti-viral drug to cure the infection. “The vaccine is also not widely available in rural areas. To make anti-viral drugs, we need to understand how the virus enters the liver cells,” he added.
The upshot of the new research is that hepatitis A infection may now be cured, said Das. “As gangliosides help the virus to enter cells, production of these molecules in the liver cells can be suppressed using medicines.”
Das’s research was funded by the National Institutes of Health (NIH), USA, one of the largest biomedical research agencies in the world. His adviser was Stanley M. Lemon, MD, of the University of North Carolina.