Digestive Diseases News
Spring/Summer 2009
NIH Launches Hepatitis B Research Network
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has launched a clinical research network to improve therapies for people with chronic hepatitis B, a viral liver disease that can lead to liver failure and liver cancer. Supported by the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK), the Hepatitis B Research Network aims to improve the treatment and control of hepatitis B.
“The Hepatitis B Research Network will provide new insights into the pathogenesis of hepatitis B and help define the most appropriate therapy of this disease in its multiple clinical forms and in the different populations that it affects,” wrote Edward C. Doo, M.D., director of the NIDDK’s Liver Disease Research Program, and Jay H. Hoofnagle, M.D., director of the NIDDK’s Liver Disease Research Branch, in a commentary that appeared in the April 27 issue of Hepatology.
New therapies and better algorithms for existing therapies are needed to improve treatment of chronic hepatitis B, a condition that affects more than 1 million people in the United States and more than 400 million worldwide.
U.S. prevention efforts—in particular child vaccine programs—have reduced the overall hepatitis B transmission rate. However, vaccines, which were not available until 1981, do not protect people who are already infected.
U.S. residents at risk for acquiring hepatitis B include those who have never received the vaccine, people who have unprotected sex with an infected person, and intravenous drug users who share needles. U.S. immigrants born in parts of the world where the virus is common are at increased risk of developing chronic hepatitis B.
Plan of Action
The Hepatitis B Research Network is activating key research priorities designated by the 2004 Trans-NIH Action Plan for Liver Disease Research and the 2008 NIH Consensus Development Conference Statement on Management of Hepatitis B, which involved researchers, physicians, industry representatives, and health advocates.
Hepatitis B Research Network initiatives are to
- conduct randomized, controlled clinical trials to evaluate long-term therapies for chronic hepatitis B
- develop a large-scale, prospective cohort to follow patients with chronic hepatitis B
- create tissue and serum sample repositories
- study the pathogenesis of the various stages and forms of hepatitis B
- identify biomarkers of disease activity to help guide treatment
- conduct smaller, more innovative trials in special populations, including people undergoing immunosuppressive therapy, those with co-infections such as HIV and hepatitis C, and pregnant women
- develop and maintain a clinical database
The Hepatitis B Research Network, a National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases-sponsored clinical research network to improve therapies for people with chronic hepatitis B, includes
- Robert Carithers Jr., M.D.; Kris Kowdley, M.D.; and Brian McMahon, M.D. (University of Washington, Seattle; Virginia Mason Medical Center, Seattle; and Alaska Native Medical Center, Anchorage)
- Adrian M. Di Bisceglie, M.D. (Saint Louis University, St. Louis)
- Michael Fried, M.D. (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill)
- Marc G. Ghany, M.D.; T. Jake Liang, M.D.; and David E. Kleiner, M.D., Ph.D. (NIH Clinical Center, Bethesda, MD)
- Steven Han, M.D.; Tram Tran, M.D.; and Tse-Ling Fong, M.D. (University of California, Los Angeles; Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, Los Angeles; and University of Southern California, Los Angeles)
- E. Jenny Heathcote, M.D.; Jordan Feld, M.D.; and David Wong, M.D. (University of Toronto)
- W. Ray Kim, M.D. (Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN)
- Daryl T.-Y. Lau, M.D., M.P.H., and Raymond T. Chung, M.D. (Beth Israel Deaconess Hospital and Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston)
- William Lee, M.D., and Robert P. Perrillo, M.D. (University of Texas Southwestern and Baylor Medical Center, Dallas)
- Anna S.F. Lok, M.D. (University of Michigan, Ann Arbor)
- Mitchell Schiffman, M.D. (Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond)
- Kathleen Schwarz, M.D. (Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore)
- Norah A. Terrault, M.D., M.P.H.; Mandana Khalili, M.D.; and Natalie Bzowej, M.D. (University of California, San Francisco and California Pacific Medical Center, San Francisco)
- Kyong-Mi Chang, M.D. (Immunology Center Principal Investigator) (University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia)
- Steven Belle, Ph.D. (Data Coordinating Center Principal Investigator) (University of Pittsburgh)
Hepatitis B is spread through contact with infected blood or body fluids. People who were infected as young children are especially vulnerable to developing chronic hepatitis B, which may progress unnoticed for many years until signs of liver damage appear.
The NIDDK has committed $45 million toward the Hepatitis B Research Network. Other sponsors include the National Institute of Allergies and Infectious Diseases and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The Hepatitis B Research Network’s website is located at www.hepbnet.org. The Trans-NIH Action Plan for Liver Disease is available online at www2.niddk.nih.gov/AboutNIDDK/ResearchAndPlanning/Liver_Disease/Action_Plan_ For_Liver_Disease_Intro.htm.
The NIH Consensus Development Conference Statement on Management of Hepatitis B is available online at www.consensus.nih.gov/orderform.aspx.
The National Digestive Diseases Information Clearinghouse, part of the NIDDK, has patient information about hepatitis B and other forms of hepatitis. Fact sheets and easy-to-read booklets are available at www.digestive.niddk.nih.gov.
[Top] [Next Article]
NIH Publication No. 09–4552
July 2009