Risk Of Developing Liver Cancer After HCV Treatment

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

Hepatitis C infections Canada's 'silent epidemic'


REGINA — While the H1N1 flu virus dominates the news these days, another virus is quietly growing at a phenomenal rate to become a "silent epidemic," says a Saskatchewan physician.
Dr. Didi Emokpare of Regina said rates of hepatitis C have risen 114 per cent among Canadian women between 2006 and 2008, and by 76.6 per cent among men — and it's believed the numbers could be much greater because the disease is under-diagnosed.
"This is very silent, staggering number," said Emokpare, noting there's been very little attention paid to the potentially deadly hepatitis C virus (HCV). "It's like it doesn't even exist."
Emokpare is urging more screening for HCV, which can go undetected for decades, since it may not lead to illness in its early stages. But detection, through a simple blood test, is important, because HCV can be treated and cured, he said.

"If you don't look for it, you won't find it," Emokpare added. Work is underway to establish hepatitis C clinics in Regina and northern Saskatchewan that will screen, treat and monitor the disease.

Emokpare was speaking in Regina on Saturday to those gathered for The Changing Face of AIDS, a conference organized by AIDS Programs South Saskatchewan. Emokpare is executive director of The Lazarus Foundation, a non-profit group working to prevent and eradicate HIV/AIDS and its related disease conditions.
Five to 10 years ago, tuberculosis was one of the key killers of those infected with HIV; today, they're likely to die of hepatitis C, said Emokpare. In its later stages, hepatitis C, which is carried in the blood, can lead to liver cirrhosis and cancer.
"This is the new thing that's guaranteed to kill you (those who have HIV/AIDS)," said Emokpare, adding about 30 per cent of people with HIV are also infected with HCV.
In Canada, about 300,000 people, mostly aged 25 to 45, have HCV; about 8,000 Canadians are infected every year.

The doctor suggested rates of hepatitis C now are where HIV was in the 1980s.

"This is a big deal."

In Saskatchewan, the number of carriers has hovered around 600 for the last few years, but Emokpare suspects the actual numbers are higher.
In Canada, the highest hepatitis risk comes from sharing needles and other drug-using equipment, such as straws for inhaling cocaine. But Emokpare said that, because many people who have HCV don't know it and aren't taking precautions, the disease is being spread outside of the drug subculture.


DNA Test for Hep B May Find Infections in Donor Blood
Nucleic acid testing for hepatitis B virus (HBV) in blood donors may catch potential infection during transfusion, researchers said.
The screen picked up nine cases of the virus in a sample of 3.7 million donors -- more than triple the expected infection rate in this population, Susan Stramer, PhD, of the American Red Cross in Rockville, Md., and colleagues reported in the Jan. 20 issue of the New England Journal of Medicine.
"This study showed a higher-than-expected rate of HBV infection with the use of triplex nucleic acid testing, mainly in donors who had been vaccinated against HBV and who would not have been identified by routine screening," they wrote.


Hepatitis C Information Growing Among Veterans
NBC4 reported about the effort Monday, and since then, the man has received several calls, emails and inquiries.
Hepatitis C can remain undetected for 10, 20, 30 years or more.
So some veterans are just finding out that the reason they're always tired or perhaps have abdominal pains is hepatitis C.
NBC4 has featured Dennis Agin in stories regarding Agent Orange, but he's also discovered he has hepatitis C and has been researching it among veterans.


UMMS begins MBL-HCV1 Phase 2 trial to prevent hepatitis C virus infection in liver transplant patients
19. January 2011 01:01
Following a successful Phase 1 study for safety, researchers at MassBiologics of the University of Massachusetts Medical School (UMMS) today announced the beginning of a Phase 2 clinical trial testing the ability of a human monoclonal antibody they developed to prevent hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection of a donor liver in transplant patients.
The first patients were enrolled in the study in December. The primary goal of this randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study is to test if the monoclonal antibody, designated MBL-HCV1, prevents re-infection of patients chronically infected with HCV who are undergoing liver transplantation.


Updates From HIV and Hepatitis C

Genentech Warns of Infection Risk from Alcohol Pads Packaged with Fuzeon and Pegasys
FDA Mandates Lower Acetaminophen Dose in Combination Pills
Tenofovir and Entecavir Are Safe and Effective in Hepatitis B Patients with Decompensated Cirrhosis
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Use Of Antiretroviral Drugs With Better Brain Penetration Is Linked To Improved Cognitive Functioning

recent large study found that antiretrovirals with better penetration into the brain and central nervous system were associated with better cognitive functioning among patients taking more than three antiretroviral drugs.
The authors of the study suggested that a strategy of optimizing antiretroviral regimens for central nervous system penetration should be tested in randomized clinical trials.
HIV infects the central nervous system – the brain and spinal cord – very quickly after initial infection, frequently leading to cognitive impairment. This impairment can affect the ability to think and reason, concentrate, remember things, process information, learn, and speak

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;Clinical Trial Results Demonstrate Promise for First Non-suppressive HIV Drug
SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--

Recently published Phase 2a clinical trial results (accessible by clicking here) show that the frequency of specific, drug-induced mutations in the HIV genome can be significantly increased by administering KP-1461, a drug being developed by Koronis Pharmaceuticals based on its novel Viral Decay Acceleration (VDA) drug mechanism. Koronis is planning a follow-on Phase 2 trial to determine the treatment duration required to achieve a clinically meaningful decrease in a patient’s viral load.

“These clinical findings confirm that KP-1461 causes extra mutations to occur in the HIV genome in HIV-infected patients. We believe the accumulation of extra mutations will eventually cause a critical loss of fitness in a patient’s HIV population. If clinical results from a longer trial confirm that loss of fitness can reduce a patient’s viral load to a clinically meaningful degree, then we believe VDA will become a viable mechanism for an entirely new class of non-suppressive HIV therapeutics”, said lead author James Mullins, Ph.D., Professor of Microbiology and Medicine at the University of Washington.

All approved HIV therapeutics employ suppressive drug mechanisms that inhibit viral enzymatic functions, or block the entry of the virus into uninfected cells. Currently, these suppressive drugs must be administered in a multi-drug cocktail to minimize emergence of drug-resistant HIV strains, and require lifelong administration to ensure continuous suppression of viral replication.

If durable reductions in patient viral populations can be demonstrated in future trials, VDA would become the first clinically-demonstrated non-suppressive drug mechanism against HIV. The possibility of using a non-suppressive drug mechanism such as VDA in HIV treatment would have significant implications for treatment paradigms and could lead to a much wider distribution of anti-HIV drugs throughout the world.

“These results indicate that KP-1461 can increase the frequency of mutations in HIV-1 populations. Importantly, it also appears to be generally safe and well tolerated based on results from the more than 80 patients who have received the drug. While larger studies are obviously needed, the conclusions from this paper certainly underscore the potential for positive clinical effects. This should encourage further development of the VDA mechanism as a new approach for the treatment of HIV-1 infection,” said Charles Hicks, MD, Professor of Medicine at Duke University Medical Center, who is also Director of the Duke University Interdisciplinary

Research Training Program in AIDS.

The recently published paper (accessible by clicking here) appears in the January 14, 2011 PLoS One Journal, an international, peer-reviewed publication produced by the Public Library of Science, and presents an analysis of HIV-1 gene sequences from heavily treatment-experienced HIV-infected volunteers treated with KP-1461 for a 4-month period.

About Koronis
Koronis Pharmaceuticals, Inc. was formed in 1998 to develop anti-viral therapeutics based on Viral Decay Acceleration (referred to by some as lethal mutagenesis or selective viral mutagenesis). The Company also has products in development for the treatment of hepatitis C.

For more information on Koronis, please visit http://cts.businesswire.com/

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Healthy You

January 12: The Importance of FISH OIL Supplementation

If you have read our blogs or listened to us on Dr. Galati’s radio program, you know that the first three letters of DIET are DIE! We do not go on diets. We follow a nutrition life plan that consists solely of whole foods (GOD food) with no or minimal processing (MAN food). If the majority of the food you consume comes from a farm (animal protein, fruits, vegetables), I don’t advocate spending much money on supplements. The nutrients you ingest from you food should supply plenty.


However, I do make one exception for supplementation: FISH Oils. Why? Remember every meal should contain: 1. Protein, 2. Carbohydrates (from fruits and veggies) and 3. Essential fatty acids. While we receive our daily intake of vitamins and minerals through food, we also need to consume the good fats like flax seeds and olive oil (avoiding the bad ones like vegetable oil). The good fats are our source of Omega 3 fatty acids (we’ll expand on the Omega’s in subsequent blog entries) which are important for many reasons.


Fish oil contains important Omega-3 fatty acids , most notably eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and decosahexaenoic acid (DHA). These Omega-3 fatty acids are believed to have health benefits ranging from reducing the risk of heart attack and coronary heart disease to combating depression. While the Eskimos and cavemen ate lots of fish, we simply don’t eat enough in our modern sedentary lifestyle. Consequently, in order to provide nature’s balance of the food we need, I turn to fish oils.


For today, let’s focus on this important supplement as God’s gift to promoting good health for the following reasons:


The intake of the recommended amount of DHA and EPA has been shown to have many heart healthy benefits. Consumption of dietary fish or fish oil supplements can lower triglycerides-a certain type of blood fat-and increase “good” cholesterol.
Omega-3 fatty acids help to reduce inflammation. This is perhaps one of the most valuable benefits of the Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oil, as inflammation is associated with many serious diseases.


Fish oil is also effective in reducing the symptoms and pain of arthritis.
As with any other ailments, check with your doctor on the right prescription. However, my one overriding message from Hippocrates that bears repeating: “Let food be thy medicine, let medicine be thy food.” Promoting good health through a balanced nutrition plan is the first order of every day.


Keep in mind in this fast food nation, we must ingest Omega-3 fatty acids found in fish oils as they are extremely important to the overall health of our minds and bodies. For that reason, it is important to understand how our bodies obtain these important fatty acids. The human body cannot make Omega-3 fatty acids, and depends on outside sources for the essential fatty acids. In all circumstances where these fatty acids are believed to be medically beneficial, we must get it through either food or through a fish oil supplement.
If you don’t eat a boat load of fish (which nature intends), go to your local health food store and make it part of your daily nutrition plan. I take 2 capsules 3 times per day (with meals) of either salmon oil, cod liver oil, or fish oil (combination of many cold water fish).
For more on this critical supplement, go to:

http://www.fishoilbenefit.net/

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/fish-oil/NS_patient-fishoil

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