May 13, 2022
Bulletin interne de l'Institut Pasteur
3D structure determination of the 'gateway' to the liver
Scientists from the CNRS, the Institut Pasteur, the Flemish Institute for Biotechnology (VIB) and the Vrije Universiteit Brussel recently reported the first study on the structure and function of a central protein in the liver: NTCP, a cellular-entry pathway for bile salts, but also for certain hepatitis viruses. These results, published in the journal Nature, reveal the 3D structure of NTCP and two forms it can adopt. One may be helpful in the development of therapeutic tools to tackle hepatitis viral infection.