RETRACTED: Hepatitis C virus stabilizes hypoxia-inducible factor 1α and stimulates the synthesis of vascular endothelial growth factor (Retracted article. See vol. 94, 2020)

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection is one of the major causes of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis, which subsequently leads to hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). The overexpression of the angiogenic factors has been demonstrated in HCC. In this study, we investigated the potential of HCV gene expression in inducing angiogenesis. Our results show that HCV infection leads to the stabilization of hypoxia-inducible factor la (HIF-1 alpha). We further show that this stabilization was mediated via oxidative stress induced by HCV gene expression. The activation of NF-kappa B, STAT-3, PI3-K/AkT, and p42/44 mitogen-activated protein kinase was necessary for HIF-1 alpha. stabilization. HIF-1 alpha induction in turn led to the stimulation of vascular endothelial growth factor. By using the chick chorioallantoic membrane assay, we show that HCV-infected cells released angiogenic cytokines, leading to neovascularization in vivo. These results indicate the potential of HCV gene expression in angiogenesis.