New targets may solve the problem of chronic hepatitis recurrence

"We have reason to conclude that ifI16 molecules can serve as a new and important target to monitor and suppress long-term recurrence of chronic hepatitis." Recently, at the first Zijin Translational Medicine Summit and the Medical Immunology and Clinical Application Summit Forum held in Nanjing, Professor Xiong Sidong, President of Suzhou University and Dean of the Institute of Biomedical Research of Suzhou University, revealed that the IFI16 molecule he led the team found could be used as a target to effectively suppress chronic hepatitis. The results have been published in Hepatology, one of the world's top hepatology journals.
The conclusion of this academic achievement also marks another big step forward in our country's efforts to overcome the problem of chronic hepatitis.
China was once a big country with hepatitis B, and in recent years, the decline in hepatitis B infection rate is the result of a series of policy measures.
“ By compulsory hepatitis B vaccination at birth, we have successfully controlled the new incidence of hepatitis B. At the same time, the treatment of hepatitis B drugs are included in the health insurance, hepatitis B infected people's employment discrimination problem is gradually eliminated. We have reason to believe that hepatitis B is not a serious problem in China in the future. Xiong Sidong said.
However, there are still great challenges in the prevention and treatment of hepatitis. According to Xiong Sidong, the number of patients infected with hepatitis B virus into chronic hepatitis in China is still high, and chronic hepatitis from the perspective of disease, the end result is liver cancer. Therefore, how to control chronic hepatitis is the focus of the next phase of research.
Xiong Sidong said that in the process of hepatitis B virus replication, there will be a special form of replication, that is, the production of a large number of co-priced B-ring DNA (commonly known as CCCDNA), which is not only an important genome of hepatitis B virus gene control, but also one of the main mechanisms of chronic hepatitis B. "In previous clinical studies, scientists in various countries have been unable to find effective ways to quantify the transcription and replication of this CCCDNA, let alone suppress the virus. This is the main reason why chronic hepatitis is difficult to eliminate and often prone to recurrence. The
is to find a mechanism to find and control CCCDNA. Professor Xiong concluded. After nearly five years of large-scale screening and selection, he led the team to discover this particular DNA receptor molecule, IFI16.
Through the surface genetic modification, this DNA receptor can not only accurately identify CCCDNA, but also combine with it, effectively inhibit the transcription and replication of CCCDNA.
It was an extremely exciting moment for Xiong Sidong. "That is, we can use IFI16 molecules to monitor and inhibit the transcription and replication of CCCDNA, which can effectively prevent the formation or recurrence of chronic hepatitis virus." We didn't use this DNA before, but now we've not only found quantifiable indicators, we can control it. After
16 molecule, Xiong and his team conducted a number of clinical trials. After a long period of follow-up, they found that in patients with chronic hepatitis, the levels of IFI16 molecules were lower than in the general body. "This provides us with new ideas for treating chronic hepatitis. First, through drug stimulation, to promote the synthesis of IFI16 molecules in patients with chronic hepatitis, and second, through external supplements, the patient's body IFI16 molecules significantly increased. "(Science and Technology Daily)