Technical and Commercial Feasibility of a blood test for prediction of response to interferon treatment in Chronic Hepatitis B patients

B型肝炎是世界上最常见的慢性病毒性疾病，有超过3.5亿慢性携带者。考虑到最近的移民模式，据估计，现在英国有超过30万人感染HBV，其中78，000人患有慢性B型肝炎感染。NICE建议将干扰素作为慢性B型肝炎的一线治疗。然而，干扰素治疗持续时间长（6-12个月），有相当大的副作用，包括发烧，神经和胃肠道疾病，虽然它可以非常有效，但只有30%的患者对治疗有反应。ProteinLogic已经确定了生物标志物，可以用作一种简单的诊断血液检测，用于在治疗开始前预测慢性HBV感染患者对干扰素治疗的反应，从而为患者提供显着的益处，并节省英国和全球的医疗费用。

Hepatitis B is the most common chronic viral disease in the world with over 350 million chronic carriers. Taking into account the recent migration patterns it is estimated that that there are now more than 300,000 people in the UK with HBV infection and, of these, 78,000 have Chronic Hepatitis B infection. NICE recommends that interferon be used as the first line treatment for Chronic Hepatitis B. However interferon treatment has a long duration (6-12 months), considerable side effects including fever, neurological and gastrointestinal disorders and whilst it can be very effective only 30% of patients respond to treatment. ProteinLogic has identified biomarkers that can be used as a simple diagnostic blood test for the prediction of response to treatment with interferon in patients with chronic HBV infection before start of treatment, therefore providing significant benefits to patients and saving healthcare costs in the UK and worldwide.