Aim is to pinpoint quasispecies in variants and use the information to personalize medicine.

Roche Diagnostics’ technology will be used in a study designed to resolve current limitations with individualizing HBV and HCV treatments. The Spanish Vall d’Hebron Institute of Research (VHIR), the Networking Biomedical Research Centre in Liver and Digestive Diseases (CIBEREHD), and the software producer Advanced Biological Laboratories Therapy Edge Spain will utilize the 454 Sequencing Systems and bioinformatics analysis together with other genetic and molecular analytical techniques.

“The hepatitis C and B viruses exhibit great variability; a person infected with one of these viruses presents a complex population of variants comprising a structure known as quasispecies,” explains Juan Ignacio Esteban-Mur, head of the line in hepatitis C, molecular biology, immune response, and treatment of liver diseases at VHIR. “The identification of these variants may be crucial for avoiding the selection of variants resistant to the new antiviral therapies.”

Dr. Esteban-Mur also is the coordinator of the viral hepatitis program of the CIBEREHD, which comprises eight Spanish research groups. The use of 454 Sequencing Systems makes it possible to gain a comprehensive profile of the complex viral populations that circulate in individuals, with the fundamental purpose of identifying the presence of viral quasispecies resistant to the existing antiviral treatments, the collaborators report.

Previous articleLabCorp Looks to Fortify U.K. Position in DNA Testing with $85.4M Purchase of Orchid Cellmark
Next articleNuron Acquires Hib Disease Vaccine from Wyeth