Good news for Hepatitis B patients

This would be a boon to doctors who regulate the medications for people with hepatitis B disease.
'About half to two-thirds of patients will basically fail the therapy after two to three years because they acquire drug resistance,' says study co-author Brent Korba, a professor of microbiology at Georgetown University Medical Center. 'It would be nice if you could predict those who are most likely to fail so you don't treat them (with the drug).'

Hepatitis B, like AIDS, responds to antiviral drugs. One of them, called lamivudine is commonly used to keep hepatitis B under control. 'It's probably the first treatment choice for chronic hepatitis B today,' Korba says.

Unfortunately, the hepatitis B virus mutates to new forms that are resistant to lamivudine and similar drugs. Hence, medical practitioners think twice to administer the drug until they are in the final stages of infection.

Korba and his colleagues decided to study the hepatitis B virus's genetic makeup in 26 patients who had undergone treatment with lamivudine to see if there were any early warning signs of trouble. They reported their findings at the 16th International Conference for Antiviral Research in Savannah.

The researchers found DNA 'markers' in the genetic makeup of the virus in the patients who either developed immunity to lamivudine or never responded to it at all. They couldn't find the markers in the virus in patients who responded well to the drug, says study co-author John Gerin, a professor of microbiology and immunology at Georgetown University Medical Center.
The test for the DNA markers is cost-effective, he adds. Alternatives to lamivudine are scarce. However, only two other drugs are licensed for use in hepatitis B patients.

Dr. Gerin says new drugs are on the horizon: 'We do hope there will be options.'
'We cannot know if this new technique could be used with other viruses like HIV, but if it could, the benefits could be enormous,' Dr. Myers explains.