Immune dysfunction in Chronic Hepatitis B & HCC
Research type
Research Study
Full title
Investigating the factors leading to immune dysregulation in chronic hepatitis B and Hepatocellular carcinoma
IRAS ID
212584
Contact name
Patrick T F Kennedy
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Queen Mary University of London
Duration of Study in the UK
5 years, 0 months, 0 days
Research summary
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a heterogeneous disease which affects in excess of 400 million people worldwide. Chronic infection is characterised by variations in the level of viraemia and periods of relative disease inactivity can alternate with periods of severe inflammation with a marked hepatitis. A failure of the host immune response to control the virus leads to viral persistence and associated liver damage. Functionally impaired T-cells are a hallmark of chronic hepatitis B. Natural killer (NK), along with other immune cells, are also implicated, exerting positive and negative effects, killing virally infected liver cells, but also mediating T-cell killing, propagating viral chronicity which may lead to cirrhosis and/or hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).
Treatment options for HBV are limited; oral antivirals reduce viral load but have poor off-treatment control. Pegylated-Interferon (injection therapy) offers finite therapy with better viral clearance in a proportion of patients, but is associated with relapse. Recent work has shown these therapies modulate different immune cells; oral antivirals restore T-cell function and Interferon boosts NK cells.
We will study blood and liver samples from treated and untreated patients to better understand the immunopathogenesis of chronic HBV (CHB) to improve treatment strategies and lead to the prevention of HCC. Directly accessing liver cells from patients will provide a much better understanding of the host immune response at the site of infection, which will ultimately lead to improved treatment strategies and cure in HBV.
REC name
Yorkshire & The Humber - Leeds West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
16/YH/0517
Date of REC Opinion
19 Dec 2016
REC opinion
Unfavourable Opinion