About the Authors

Fei Xiao

Contributed equally to this work with: Fei Xiao, Isabel Fofana

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Isabel Fofana

Contributed equally to this work with: Fei Xiao, Isabel Fofana

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Laura Heydmann

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Heidi Barth

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Laboratoire de Virologie, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Eric Soulier

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

François Habersetzer

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Pôle Hépato-digestif, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Michel Doffoël

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Pôle Hépato-digestif, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Jens Bukh

Affiliation Copenhagen Hepatitis C Program (CO-HEP), Department of Infectious Diseases and Clinical Research Centre, Hvidovre Hospital and Department of International Health, Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Health and Medical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

Arvind H. Patel

Affiliation MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research, Glasgow, United Kingdom

Mirjam B. Zeisel

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France

Thomas F. Baumert

Thomas.Baumert@unistra.fr

Affiliations Inserm, U1110, Strasbourg, France, Université de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Pôle Hépato-digestif, Hôpitaux Universitaires de Strasbourg, Strasbourg, France, Gastrointestinal Unit, Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts, United States of America

Competing Interests

I have read the journal's policy and have the following conflicts: Inserm Transfer and the University of Strasbourg have filed patent applications on host-targeting entry inhibitors for prevention and treatment of HCV infection. Thomas F. Baumert serves as scientific advisor for Biotest and Vironexx. This does not alter our adherence to all PLOS policies on sharing data and materials.

Author Contributions

Conceived and designed the experiments: TFB FX IF. Performed the experiments: FX IF LH ES. Analyzed the data: FX IF LH HB ES FH MD MBZ TFB. Contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools: JB AHP. Wrote the paper: FX IF MBZ TFB.