Viral Hepatitis

丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）是一种通过血液接触传播的病毒，它通过血液传播，感染肝脏。丙型肝炎病毒（HCV）是一种通过血液接触传播的病毒，它通过血液接触传播，感染肝脏。在大多数情况下，初次感染后，它仍然存在于血液和肝脏中，除非感染者接受治疗以清除病毒。在很长一段时间内，感染后长达10-20年，肝脏疾病可能会发展，可能导致肝功能衰竭或癌症。由于感染并不总是明显的，人们往往不知道他们携带病毒。因此，HCV感染是一个全球性的临床问题;在英国，有多达215，000名感染者，但只有大约一半的人被诊断出来。我们的计划旨在了解HCV感染者的变化。这一点很重要，因为有些人可能会对用于治疗病毒的药物产生耐药性。目前，有新的但昂贵的药物可用于治疗感染。然而，并不是每个人都有反应，因为他们会变得有抵抗力。我们正试图了解病毒发生了什么变化，使人们产生抗药性，以及为什么会发生这些变化。此外，我们认为，根除丙型肝炎病毒需要疫苗，特别是对于负担不起药物的贫穷国家。因此，我们也在研究在感染过程中自然产生的抗体，以制造保护人们免受病毒侵害的疫苗。

HCV vaccineDr John McLauchlan and Dr Arvind Patel, Lead Investigators, and Dr Emma Thomson as a Co-Investigator, MRC-University of Glasgow Centre for Virus Research (CVR), University of Glasgow.Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is passed on through blood-to-blood contact and infects the liver. In most cases, after initial infection, it remains in the blood and the liver unless those who are infected receive treatment to clear the virus. Over a long period, up to 10-20 years after infection, liver disease can develop which may lead to liver failure or cancer. Since infection is not always obvious, people are frequently unaware that they carry the virus. As a result, HCV infection is a global clinical problem; in the UK, there are up to 215,000 infected people but only about half of them have been diagnosed.Our programme aims to understand how HCV changes in people who are infected. This is important because some people can develop resistance to the drugs used to treat the virus. Currently, there are new but expensive drugs available to cure infection. However, not everyone responds because they become resistant. We are trying to understand what changes occur in the virus to make people resistant and why these changes happen. In addition, we believe that eradicating HCV needs a vaccine, especially for poor countries that cannot afford drugs. Therefore, we are also looking at the antibodies which are naturally produced during infection to make a vaccine that would protect people from the virus.