Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jul 1, 2026

Hepatitis C virus nonstructural protein 3

Nonstructural protein 3 (NS3), also known as p-70, is a viral nonstructural protein that is the 70 kDa cleavage product of the hepatitis C virus polyprotein. It acts as a serine protease. The C-terminal two-thirds of the protein also acts as a helicase and nucleoside triphosphatase. The first (N-terminal) 180 amino acids of NS3 have an additional role as cofactor domains for the NS2 protein.

Last revised
Jul 1, 2026
Read time
≈ 1 min
Length
275 w
Citations
5
Source
HCV genome
Identifiers
OrganismHepacivirus hominis
SymbolNS3
Entrez951475
RefSeq (Prot)NP_803144.1
UniProtQ91RS4
Other data
ChromosomeGenomic: 0 - 0 Mb
Search for
StructuresSwiss-model
DomainsInterPro

Nonstructural protein 3 (NS3), also known as p-70, is a viral nonstructural protein that is the 70 kDa cleavage product of the hepatitis C virus polyprotein. It acts as a serine protease.12 The C-terminal two-thirds of the protein also acts as a helicase and nucleoside triphosphatase.3 The first (N-terminal) 180 amino acids of NS3 have an additional role as cofactor domains for the NS2 protein.4

See also

See also

References

References

  1. Hijikata M, Mizushima H, Tanji Y, Komoda Y, Hirowatari Y, Akagi T, et al. (November 1993). "Proteolytic processing and membrane association of putative nonstructural proteins of hepatitis C virus". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 90 (22): 10773–10777. Bibcode:1993PNAS...9010773H. doi:10.1073/pnas.90.22.10773. PMC 47860. PMID 7504283.
  2. Raney KD, Sharma SD, Moustafa IM, Cameron CE (July 2010). "Hepatitis C virus non-structural protein 3 (HCV NS3): a multifunctional antiviral target". The Journal of Biological Chemistry. 285 (30): 22725–22731. doi:10.1074/jbc.R110.125294. PMC 2906261. PMID 20457607.
  3. Zhang C, Cai Z, Kim YC, Kumar R, Yuan F, Shi PY, et al. (July 2005). "Stimulation of hepatitis C virus (HCV) nonstructural protein 3 (NS3) helicase activity by the NS3 protease domain and by HCV RNA-dependent RNA polymerase". Journal of Virology. 79 (14): 8687–8697. doi:10.1128/jvi.79.14.8687-8697.2005. PMC 1168731. PMID 15994762.
  4. Schregel V, Jacobi S, Penin F, Tautz N (March 2009). "Hepatitis C virus NS2 is a protease stimulated by cofactor domains in NS3". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 106 (13): 5342–5347. Bibcode:2009PNAS..106.5342S. doi:10.1073/pnas.0810950106. PMC 2663979. PMID 19282477.
  5. "NS3/4A Protease Inhibitors - DrugBank".