Methods and products related to treatment and prevention of hepatitis C virus infection
View Patent ↗The invention provides methods for identifying and treating subjects having hepatitis C infections. In some instances, the subjects are those that are non-responsive to non-CpG therapy. Preferably, the subjects are treated with C class CpG immunostimulatory nucleic acids having a semi-soft backbone.
1. A method of controlling viral replication and viral spread in a human subject having an HCV infection that was not successfully treated using a previous non-CpG therapy comprising
administering to a subject in need thereof an antiviral agent and a C class CpG immunostimulatory nucleic acid having a semi-soft backbone and comprising
a sequence of
5′ X 1 DCGHX 2 3′
wherein C is unmethylated, X 1 and X 2 are any nucleic acid sequence 0-10 nucleotides long, D is a nucleotide other than C, and H is a nucleotide other than G, and
a sequence of
5′ CGG 3′,
wherein the nucleic acid is 8 to 100 nucleotides in length, in an amount effective to control viral replication and viral spread of HCV.