Jakarta - It is estimated that more than two billion people are infected with hepatitis B worldwide. In fact, more than 296 million of them are chronic hepatitis B sufferers. The disease is dangerous, and has the potential to progress to fibrosis, cirrhosis, liver failure and liver cancer.
The latest issues related to viral hepatitis and the mutations that accompany it were discussed in a webinar entitled "Current Issues Regarding Molecular Biology & Biotechnology in Hepatitis Virus Research" organized by the Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Center, the National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and the School of Life Sciences and Technology, Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). The webinar was held to coincide with the commemoration of World Hepatitis Day.
Head of BRIN's Health Research Organization, Indi Dharmayanti, when opening the webinar on Wednesday (26/7/2023) said that since 1997, one of the government's efforts to reduce the severity of viral hepatitis has been the vaccination of hepatitis B in infants. Although this effort can reduce the prevalence rate, on the other hand, it can cause gene mutations that affect the pathogenicity of hepatitis.
"Referring to these conditions, of course, the latest research for hepatitis is still very much needed," Indi Dharmayanti said in a written statement quoted from the BRIN website in Jakarta, Saturday (29/7/2023).
Furthermore, Head of BRIN's Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Center, Elisabeth Farah Novita Coutrier, said that research and innovation related to hepatitis disease management and control strategies continue to be carried out by the research center. Among them are research to uncover mutations that cause hepatitis B vaccination failure and mutations that cause detection failure and disease progression, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer.
One of the speakers of the webinar, a researcher at BRIN's Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Center, Korri El Khobar, said that his research shows that high variation in the hepatitis B virus (VHB) and hepatitis C virus (VHC) can affect the course of the disease and response to treatment.
"VHB infection can be prevented with the hepatitis B vaccine, while VHC infection can be treated with effective Direct Acting Antivirals," Korri said in a presentation titled "Molecular Epidemiology of Viral Hepatitis in Indonesia."
Korri added that Direct Acting Antivirals (DAA) treatment through antiviral therapy is an effective drug that inhibits VHC replication with an SVR rate of more than 95%. However, Korri said, there will still be failure of DAA therapy in chronic hepatitis C due to resistance-related nucleotide substitutions that can develop into resistance-related viral variations.
"Variations in VHC genotypes and clinical manifestations related to liver disease progression, namely the VHC-1b genotype, can cause more severe liver disease progression and the incidence of disease recurrence after liver transplantation," said Korri. Therefore, Korri reminded, although currently VHB and VBC infections can be prevented and treated, early detection of VHB and VHC is preferred to reduce viral transmission and inhibit disease progression.
Another current issue of viral hepatitis was also presented by a researcher at BRIN's Eijkman Molecular Biology Research Center, Caecilia Sukowati in a presentation entitled "Molecular Pathogenicity of Viral Hepatitis and its Effects on Human Health." Caecilia explained that the pathogenesis of VHB and VHC infections is generally mediated by the host immune system. However, the virus is able to develop various mechanisms to avoid elimination from the immune response and can continue to replicate in infected hosts for years.
"Not only that, viral components themselves can cause cancer without an inflammatory pathway. The ability of viral proteins, whether wild-type or mutated, to alter normal cell function, activate oncogenic pathways, and sensitize liver cells to other mutagens. This can lead to instability of molecular signaling pathways in humans resulting in prolonged liver damage," Caecilia said.
Furthermore, Caecilia also revealed that sometimes people who have been infected with the hepatitis virus do not realize the symptoms in their body. This is something to be aware of because the hepatitis virus can be transmitted to others. Currently, there are detection methods for mutated hepatitis viruses that can be utilized so that the risk of transmission can be reduced.