An Australian-led team of international medical researchers has identified a variant in the interferon gene IL28B, linking it with the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus.<\/p>\n
Westmead Millennium Institute molecular geneticist, Dr David Booth and the University of Sydney hepatitis C expert, Professor Jacob George, led this important genetic discovery.<\/p>\n
The international team examined the genomes of more than 800 individuals (including 300 Australians) receiving treatment for chronic HCV.<\/p>\n
Results of the study published in today’s online Nature Genetics article “IL28B is associated with response to chronic hepatitis C interferon-and ribavirin therapy” reports that L28B encodes an interferon-lambda that is involved with suppression of viruses including HCV.<\/p>\n
Dr David Booth, who is also widely recognised for his work with multiple sclerosis and genes that cause autoimmune disease, says: “The same principles apply to hepatitis C infection as to MS: we inherit from our parents subtle differences in the make up of our immune system that can make a major difference in susceptibility to disease or how we respond to treatment.<\/p>\n
“Finding each of the few genes that have such an impact gives science an edge in the eventual prevention or control of many of the major diseases of humankind.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The finding that inherited differences in the interferon lambda gene have such an impact on treatment benefit in Hep C provides a valuable new lead into the role of interferon lambda in this infection of epidemic proportion world-wide.”<\/p>\n
Hepatitis C, an infectious disease affecting the liver and a leading cause of liver disease, has a worldwide prevalence of nearly 300 million.<\/p>\n
“The current standard treatment procedure for chronic HCV is combined therapy with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin for a period of 48 weeks,” says Professor Jacob George, Professor of Hepatology at the University of Sydney.<\/p>\n
“This treatment can have side effects and only about 40-50% of individuals infected with HCV show a positive response to it.<\/p>\n
“The current study renews interest in therapies which involve this type of interferon, and suggest that combined treatment with interferon-alpha and interferon-lambda may prove a more effective treatment.<\/p>\n
“It also highlights the potential benefits of individualised treatment, including the prediction of which patients are more likely to benefit, sparing others the cost and side effects associated with treatment.”<\/p>\n
Media Contact: Victoria Hollick 0412 581 616<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
An Australian-led team of international medical researchers has identified a variant in the interferon gene IL28B, linking it with the treatment of chronic hepatitis C virus. Westmead Millennium Institute molecular geneticist, Dr David Booth and the University of Sydney hepatitis C expert, Professor Jacob George, led this important genetic discovery. The international team examined the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2446,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"default","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"set","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}}},"categories":[19],"class_list":["post-2459","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-cat-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/2459","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}