{"id":2602,"date":"2016-09-15T16:52:09","date_gmt":"2016-09-15T06:52:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/?post_type=wimr_news&p=2602"},"modified":"2024-09-30T18:26:38","modified_gmt":"2024-09-30T08:26:38","slug":"researchers-find-new-genetic-variant-which-puts-hepatitis-c-patients-at-higher-risk-of-liver-damage","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/news\/researchers-find-new-genetic-variant-which-puts-hepatitis-c-patients-at-higher-risk-of-liver-damage\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers find new genetic variant which puts Hepatitis C patients at higher risk of liver damage"},"content":{"rendered":"

A large international team of researchers lead by The Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Sydney have found a new genetic variant that puts chronic hepatitis C patients at risk of developing liver disease.<\/p>\n

\"ImageIn a paper published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, the team lead by\u00a0Professor Jacob George<\/a>\u00a0and Dr. Mohammed Eslam from The Westmead Institute\u2019s Storr Liver Centre describe their analysis of more than 2000 patients, finding that a variant in the MBOAT7 gene is linked to increased liver inflammation, and thereby fibrosis (scarring).<\/p>\n

Researchers identified that patients with the risk variant have low expression of MBOAT7 – a protective enzyme which reduces inflammation. With low expression, these patients have more severe liver inflammation and inflammatory markers in their blood.<\/p>\n

Professor George said that the MBOAT7 gene could be the key to finding a treatment for a wide range of diseases.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis gene is expressed by many immune cell types and is likely to be critical for the progression of inflammation and fibrosis irrespective of the organ,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis could be the key to finding a treatment for a wide range of potentially deadly conditions characterised by tissue scarring that can include diseases of the heart, lungs, and kidney, as well as the liver\u201d, he said.<\/p>\n

Dr. Eslam said the MBOAT7 gene discovery adds another gene to the one identified last year by the same team as a marker for liver fibrosis progression.<\/p>\n

\u201cFinding the genes responsible for placing liver disease patients at risk is the first step in developing targeted therapies and better management,\u201d he said.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Despite decades of research and billions of dollars spent worldwide, there is still no effective anti-fibrotic drug.
\nThe paper\u2019s first author, Dr. Khaled Thabet, said the findings are a potentially important step along the road towards better understanding the role of genetics in how a disease manifests<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A large international team of researchers lead by The Westmead Institute for Medical Research in Sydney have found a new genetic variant that puts chronic hepatitis C patients at risk of developing liver disease. In a paper published in the prestigious journal Nature Communications, the team lead by\u00a0Professor Jacob George\u00a0and Dr. Mohammed Eslam from The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":2603,"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-2602","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\/2602","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\/2603"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2602"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wimr.org.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2602"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}