International Effort to Develop Personalized Treatments for Liver Diseases

A multinational consortium has been formed to advance research leading to personalized treatment of liver diseases including hepatitis B and C.

Roche Diagnostics (Basel, Switzerland) will be cooperating with the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research (Barcelona, Spain), the Networking Biomedical Research Center in Liver and Digestive Diseases (CIBEREHD; Barcelona, Spain), and the software producer Advanced Biological Laboratories Therapy Edge (Luxembourg) in a study designed to resolve the current limitations that prevent the individualization of anti-HBV and anti-HCV (hepatitis B and C) treatments. CIBERHED comprises eight Spanish research groups, specialized in liver biology and disease.

The project, which is aimed at identifying methods for personalized treatment of liver diseases in ways that will minimize healthcare costs and patient side effects, will be based on Roche's 454 Sequencing Systems. The other participants will contribute bioinformatics analysis and other genetic and molecular analytical techniques.

"The hepatitis C and B viruses exhibit great variability; a person infected with one of these viruses presents a complex population of variants comprising a structure known as "quasispecies,” said Dr. Juan Ignacio Esteban-Mur, head of liver disease treatment at the Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research. "The identification of these variants may be crucial for avoiding the selection of variants resistant to the new antiviral therapies.”

Related Links:
Roche Diagnostics
Vall d'Hebron Institute of Research
Networking Biomedical Research Center in Liver and Digestive Diseases (CIBEREHD)
Biological Laboratories Therapy Edge Spain