Aussies aid Hepatitis C 'breakthrough'

An Australian-led team of international medical researchers may have scored an important breakthrough in the treatment of hepatitis C.

The team, led by Sydney molecular geneticist David Booth and Sydney University hepatitis C expert Jacob George, has identified a variant in an interferon gene which links it to the treatment of the chronic hepatitis C virus (HVC).

The gene, known as IL28B, was found to encode an interferon "lambda" involved with the suppression of viruses, including HCV.

Interferons, or proteins inhibiting the replication of viruses, are identified through the use of letters from the Greek alphabet.

The researchers said the new study showed use of the interferon-lambda in treatment could benefit those people identified as best suited to receive it and spare others the cost and side effects of their current treatments.

Prof George said the current standard treatment procedure for chronic HCV was combined therapy with pegylated interferon-alpha and ribavirin for about 11 months.

"This treatment can have side effects and only about 40 to 50 per cent of individuals infected with HCV show a positive response to it," Prof George said.

"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."

Dr Booth, a molecular geneticist with Westmead Millennium Institute who is widely recognised for his work with multiple sclerosis and genes that cause autoimmune disease, said the same principles applied 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," he said.

"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."

He said the finding that inherited differences in the interferon lambda gene has such an impact on the treatment of Hep C provided a valuable new lead into beating "an infection of epidemic proportion worldwide".

Almost 300 million people are known to have been infected with hepatitis C, which is a leading cause of liver disease.

Results of the study into interferon IL28B were published on Sunday's Nature Genetics website.