Cortactin Interacts with Hepatitis C Virus Core and NS5A Proteins: Implications for Virion Assembly

Cortactin is a cytoskeletal protein that regulates cell migration in response to a number of extracellular stimuli. The functional involvement of cortactin in the virus life cycle is not yet fully understood. The most significant finding is that cortactin strongly interacted with both hepatitis C virus (HCV) core and NS5A. Cortactin is involved in HCV assembly by tethering core and NS5A on the lipid droplets (LDs) with no effect on LD biogenesis. It was noteworthy that HCV NS5A and core activated cortactin by phosphorylation at tyrosines 421 and 466 to regulate cell migration. Collectively, our study shows that cortactin is a novel host factor involved in viral production and HCV-associated pathogenesis.