Scientists have discovered a gene that interferes with the clearance of hepatitis C virus infection. They also identified an inherited variant within this gene, Interferon Lambda 4 (IFNL4), that predicts how people respond to treatment for hepatitis C infection. The results of this study, by investigators at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) and their collaborators at NIH and other institutions, were published online in Nature Genetics. Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus is a cause of liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. Read more here.
Study mentioned: Prokunina-Olsson L, et al. A variant upstream of IFNL3 (IL28B) creating a new interferon gene IFNL4 is associated with impaired clearance of hepatitis C virus. Nat Genet. 2013 Jan 6. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 23291588
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