A potential new target for antiviral therapy against hepatitis C virus could be identified by a new study, say researchers working on an experimental treatment. The medication is designed to block the liver-expressed microRNA-122 molecule necessary for HCV to replicate. Developed by Denmark-based Santaris Pharma A/S, the medication is named SPC3649 and is based on the firm's proprietary "locked nucleic acid."
Among four chimpanzees chronically infected with hepatitis C, the two given a higher dose of SPC3649 had a 350-fold decrease in HCV levels in their blood and liver. The drug continued to work several months after it was administered.
The treatment candidate is "currently undergoing Phase I clinical studies in healthy volunteers," researchers said in a statement. If approved, the drug would be the first of its class.
"Our collaboration with Santaris Pharma proved that the drug worked exceptionally well in treating HCV infections in chimpanzees," said lead author Robert E. Lanford of the Southwest Foundation for Biomedical Research in San Antonio, Texas. The technology involved also could be applied to other diseases, such as HIV, cancer, and inflammatory diseases.
"This antiviral could be used alone to treat disease progression, and there are indications that it can convert interferon non-responders to responders, so that non-responders to the current therapy could be treated with the combination of this drug with interferon," Lanford said.
The full report, "Therapeutic Silencing of MicroRNA-122 in Primates with Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection," was published in Science Express (2009;doi:10.1126/science.1178178).
12/03/09
DENMARK: Researchers Develop New Hepatitis C Treatment
Source: Agence France Presse; Courtesy of the CDC National Center for HIV, STD, and TB Prevention