Page 71 - MemoriaCIBER-2017ENG

Epidemiology, prevention and treatment of infection by the hepatitis virus
Coordinator: Xavier Forns Bernhardt
The evolution of the hepatitis programme is marked by the consolidation of new treatments against hepatitis C (DAA) and its boosting of cooperation between groups
Its success in 2017 is vouched for by the number and quality of the articles resulting from multi-centre studies Some of the ones deserving mention are: 1) Evaluation of the e ectiveness and safety of antivi- ral treatment in 1200 patients with cirrhosis and advanced age (Am J Gastroenterol 2017;112(9):1400- 1409); 2) Prospective evaluation of the e ectiveness and safety of sofosbuvir and simeprevir in patients infected by genotype 4 (Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 2017;45(3):468-475); 3) Evaluation of regimes based on sofosbuvir plus an NS5A inhibitor in patients infected with genotype 3 (J Viral Hepat 2017;24(4):304- 311); and 4) Analysis of the e ectiveness of di erent therapeutic patterns in patients infected with geno- type 4 (Clin Gastroenterol Hepatol 2017;15(6):945-949) Di erent researchers from the programme have led international multi-centre tests which study new therapeutic patterns (Lancet Gastroenterol Hepatol 2017;2(11):814-823)
In translational research we should stress the participation in an international consortium which has proven the relevance of the lambda-3 interferon in in ammatory processes and of hepatic brogenesis (Nature Genetics (Nat Genet. 2017;49(5):795-800) while a study of basic virology (J Virol 2017;91(10) analyses the evolutionary advantage of the phenotypic diversity of HCV
Some major contributions have also been made in hepatitis B There was a prospective evaluation of the risk of reactivating infection in patients with past or active HBV, infection in the setting of treatment for hepatitis C (Aliment Pharmacol Ther 2017;45(8):1156-1161) A second prospective international mul- ti-centre study (Hepatology 2017;66(5):1444-1453) accredits the long-term bene t of treatment with nu- cleotide analogues in patients with cirrhosis by HBV as regards the reduction of complications resulting from cirrhosis In translational research work one should stress the development and characterisation of a mouse model for infection by HDV (J Hepatol 2017 ;67(4):669-679)
Certain studies resulting from the National Hepatitis C Plan should lastly be highlighted Here two stud- ies ought to be mentioned: rst of all, a paper (Gastroenterology 2017 Nov;153(5):1273-1283) analysing the impact of antiviral treatment in patients with cirrhosis by virus C and portal hypertension, and which shows a signi cant improvement of this in one-third of the patients treated and cured with DAA only six months after completion of the treatment In a second study there was an evaluation of the impact of hepatitis C treatment in patients on the waiting list for a liver transplant; the work shows that in patients treated for the infection and cured there is a substantial improvement in the liver function, to such an ex- tent that up to 25% of them manage to be taken o the waiting list (J Hepatol 2017 Dec;67(6):1168-1176)
The involvement of the principal investigators from the programme in the preparation of Clinical Guides (Treatment of Hepatitis B, European Association for the Study of the Liver, J Hepatol 2017;67(2):370-398; Handling Hepatitis C http://aeeh es/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/consenso pdf) also proves to be of great importance