HEPBVAR - Emerging variants of hepatitis b virus: new tools for epidemiological survey, diagnosis of infection, and monitoring of drug resistance (HEPBVAR) (LIFE QUALITY) (2001-09-01 - 2005-02-28) (»add to infobox)

Christian BRECHOT, Ferruccio BONINO, Benoit ADELUS, Paul BOSELEY, Andrzej CEYNOWA

INSTITUT NATIONAL DE LA SANTE ET DE LA RECHERCHE MEDICALE (INSERM) (FR716 - Rhône) (France), AZIENDA OSPEDALIERA PISANA (IT517 - Pisa) (Italy), BIOMERIEUX SA (FR716 - Rhône) (France), HEALTH PROTECTION AGENCY (UK550 - Greater London) (Great Britain), UNIWERSYTET GDANSKI (PL0B3 - Pomorskie Gdansk-Gdynia-Sopot) (Poland)

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) chronic infection still poses a major health problem for Europe. The emergence of HBV variants will compound the problem if they are allowed to spread, leading to vaccine escape and chemotherapeutic failure. To prevent this, our collaborative study will: develop high throughput procedures for detecting these variants in patients from different parts of Europe; evaluate their immune escape and drug resistance phenotypes through the use of conventional and new cell culture and animal models; and establish quantification assays to monitor the dynamic of HBV variants during therapy. Our findings should lead to re-design of diagnostic assays, and of vaccine and therapeutic formulations, and to guidelines to biologists and clinicians for better prevention and treatment strategies. They should result in the reduction of HBV transmission and of severe liver disease in chronically infected patients.

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