Search results for "BAV"
showing 10 items of 280 documents
The role of positive selection in hepatitis C virus
2008
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major health problem worldwide, infecting an estimated 170 million people. In this study, we have employed a large data set of sequences (14,654 sequences from between 25 and 100 clone sequences per analyzed region and per patient) from 67 patients infected with HCV genotype 1 (23 subtype 1a and 44 subtype 1b). For all patients, a sample prior to combined therapy with alpha interferon plus ribavirin was available, whereas for some patients additional samples after 6 or 12 months of treatment were also available. Twenty-seven patients responded to treatment (12 subtype 1a and 15 subtype 1b) and forty patients did not respond to treatment (11 subtype 1a vs. 29 sub…
Human Monkeypox: A Comprehensive Narrative Review and Analysis of the Public Health Implications.
2022
Recently, numerous cases of monkeypox were reported from several non-endemic countries in Europe, North America, and Oceania, suggesting an unusual and alarming public health issue, particularly considering that the disease is not directly related to human or animal travels. Attention is currently being drawn to this phenomenon since more than 70% of the global population is no longer vaccinated against smallpox. Indeed, the smallpox vaccination also confers some indirect degree of protection against other poxviruses, including monkeypox. We performed a narrative review to describe the existing literature with regard to monkeypox using the MEDLINE, EMBASE, and Scopus databases. This review …
Effect of Ribavirin on the Mutation Rate and Spectrum of Hepatitis C Virus In Vivo
2009
ABSTRACTTheir extremely error-prone replication makes RNA viruses targets for lethal mutagenesis. In the case of hepatitis C virus (HCV), the standard treatment includes ribavirin, a base analog with an in vitro mutagenic effect, but the in vivo mode of action of ribavirin remains poorly understood. Here, we test the mutagenic effects of ribavirin plus interferon treatment in vivo using a new method to estimate mutation rates based on the analysis of nonsense mutations. We apply this methodology to a large HCV sequence database containing over 15,000 reverse transcription-PCR molecular clone sequences from 74 patients infected with HCV. We obtained an estimate of the spontaneous mutation ra…
Interferon-alpha inhibits hepatitis C virus subgenomic RNA replication by an MxA-independent pathway.
2001
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) persists in the majority of infected individuals and is a major cause of chronic hepatitis, liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Chronic hepatitis C is currently treated with interferon (IFN)-α or with a combination of IFN-α and ribavirin. The availability of an HCV replicon system (Lohmann et al., Science 285, 110–113, 1999) allowed the investigation of the effects of IFN on genuine HCV replication in cultured cells. It is shown here that IFN-α inhibits subgenomic HCV RNA replication in HuH-7 human hepatoma cells. Immunofluorescence, Western blot and Northern blot analysis revealed that levels of both HCV protein and replicon RNA were reduced after treatme…
How to optimize HCV therapy in genotype 1 patients: predictors of response.
2013
The advent of triple therapy (TT) with first-generation protease inhibitors boceprevir (BOC) and telaprevir (TVR) in addition to pegylated interferon and ribavirin (PEG-IFN/RBV) has resulted in a significant improvement in the sustained virological response (SVR) rate and potentially in life years gained compared to dual therapy (DT), when treating naive or treatment-experienced patients with genotype 1 (G1) chronic hepatitis C (CHC). This benefit is partly offset by the increased complexity of treatment, and the increased costs and risks of therapy, making it necessary to optimize the indications for TT. Naive patients with mild fibrosis and the IL28B CC polymorphism and/or with a rapid vi…
An a priori prediction model of response to peginterferon plus ribavirin dual therapy in naïve patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C.
2014
none 29 no Background: Aim was to select naïve patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C having a high probability of response to Peg-interferon. +. ribavirin therapy. Methods: In 1073 patients (derivation cohort), predictors of rapid and sustained virological response were identified by logistic analysis; regression coefficients were used to generate prediction models for sustained virological response. Probabilities at baseline and treatment week 4 were utilized to develop a decision rule to select patients with high likelihood of response. The model was then validated in 423 patients (validation cohort). Results: In the derivation cohort, 257 achieved rapid virological response and 8…
The impact of antiviral treatments on the course of chronic hepatitis C: an evidence-based approach.
2004
Hepatitis C virus chronic infection is currently the most common cause of end-stage liver disease. The benefit of antiviral therapy on liver histology and its impact on the long-term course of the disease has been extensively studied. However, the results are still equivocal and the overall assessment of treatment effect remains difficult to evaluate. Although the conclusions of the last National Institute of Health Consensus Development Conferences on Hepatitis C have recently been published, several important issues still remain unanswered. We review the available data by an evidence-based approach and conclude that: 1) peginterferon alfa is more effective than conventional interferon in …
Pegylated interferon therapy in chronic hepatitis C: lights and shadows of an innovative treatment
2007
Abstract Pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN) in combination with ribavirin is the standard of treatment for chronic hepatitis C. Several viral and host factors influence the outcome of treatment, such as hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype, baseline viral load, viral kinetics, race, body weight, advanced liver disease, HIV co-infection, and adherence to therapy. Monitoring the response of HCV to treatment during the early time points (4 weeks or 12 weeks) after initiation of therapy has emerged as a critical tool to predict sustained virologic response (SVR), defined as undetectable serum HCV RNA 24 weeks after the end of therapy. To counterbalance the influence of host and viral factors, treatment…
Triple therapy with first-generation Protease Inhibitors for patients with genotype 1 chronic hepatitis C: Recommendations of the Italian Association…
2013
AbstractThe first-generation Protease Inhibitors Boceprevir and Telaprevir administered in triple therapy regimens with Peg-interferon alpha and Ribavirin have been proven effective in increasing the rate of Sustained Virological Response in both naive and treatment-experienced patients with chronic genotype-1 hepatitis C. However, at the individual level, the therapeutic advantage of triple therapy is highly variable and results from the combination of multiple factors related to the characteristics of patient, viral status and liver disease.The recommendations presented are promoted by the Italian Association for the Study of the Liver, with the aim to help the physician in the decision-m…
Therapeutic algorithms for chronic hepatitis C in the DAA era during the current economic crisis: whom to treat? How to treat? When to treat?
2012
The advent of triple therapy (TT) with first-generation protease inhibitors boceprevir (BOC) and telaprevir (TVR) in addition to pegylated interferon and ribavirin resulted in a significant gain in terms of sustained virological response (SVR) when treating naive or previous treated patients with genotype 1 (G1) chronic hepatitis C (CHC). This gain is partly balanced by the increased complexity of treatment and by the raised costs and risks of therapy, making necessary to optimize the indication to TT. Specifically, the identification of patient needing to TT over DT, the choice of the more correct therapeutic approach according to baseline and on treatment SVR predictors, and the timing of…