If you know me, you know this is GREAT NEWS!!!!!!

[Colleen A.]

Insight into hepatitis C
Knight Ridder News Service

DALLAS -Texas scientists have found how the hepatitis C virus disarms the body's defenses, allowing it to become a permanent occupant inside cells.

Experiments published online in the journal ScienceExpress also suggested that drugs being tested in patients could restore the immune response, allowing a cell to get rid of the virus.

Hepatitis C, spread through contaminated blood or IV drug use, can lead to a chronic infection that damages the liver.

Researchers at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas found that when the hepatitis C virus invades a cell, it releases an enzyme that disables a molecule called interferon regulatory factor 3. Without IRF-3, the cell's immune response stalls, and hepatitis C takes hold.

The scientists restored IRF-3 by exposing the cells to drugs called protease inhibitors. The cell's immune reponse was restored, and the virus vanished.

Hopefully, the FDA won't take too long to approve this medication!!!

 

[helenabear]

That does sound so wonderful!!! That would be able to help so many people I do hope that they approve this drug soon

 

[olena]

That is GREAT news! The FDA will probably give this a quick green light.