Improved Prevention of Perinatal Hepatitis B Transmission

Summary

Impaired activity of Natural Killer (NK) cells has been proposed as a mechanism contributing to viral persistence in Hepatitis C Virus (HCV) infection. NK cells display anti-fibrotic activities by killing activated hepatic stellate cells (HSCs) that have lost the self-recognition marker; Major Histocompatibility (MHC) class I. Determining the down-expressed genes on NK cells necessary for their anti-fibrotic activity was never studied previously. This will allow us to study their role fully in phagocytosis process as well as their interaction of HSCs and therefore manipulating these genes using molecular techniques. Exploring the cellular functions of these genes will highlight their involvement in the progression of liver fibrosis and could be used as a therapeutic tool for preventing the disease.

Timeline

Start

2010-09

Primary completion

2011-03

Completion

2013-09

Publications

• Safadi R, Khoury T, Saed N, Hakim M, Jamalia J, Nijim Y, Farah N, Nuser T, Natur N, Mahamid M, Amer J, Roppert PL, Gerlich WH, Glebe D. Efficacy of Birth Dose Vaccination in Preventing Mother-to-Child Transmission of Hepatitis B: A Randomized Controlled Trial Comparing Engerix-B and Sci-B-Vac. Vaccines (Basel). 2021 Apr 1;9(4):331. doi: 10.3390/vaccines9040331.

Drugs

Indications