Figure 3.

Pathogenecity of hepatitis C virus core protein in the transgenic mice. Some studies have showed that the transgenic mice with core protein developed steatosis only, or steatosis followed by hepatocellular carcinoma. In other studies, the transgenic mice with constitutive core protein expression developed insulin resistance, then leading to type 2 diabetes on a high-fat diet. Most of these mice would develop hepatic steatosis and some of them would even develop hepatocellular carcinoma.