South Korea identifies mechanism by which hepatitis C damages the liver

On September 4, for the first time in the world, a group of Korean scientists announced that they had identified the mechanism by which hepatitis C destroys the liver, opening up the prospect of developing treatments that do not cause strong side effects.

The study was published in the September issue of the international journal Hepatology.

Hepatitis C is an infectious disease caused by a virus that primarily affects the liver. Although there are treatments available, they can cause side effects that can damage the liver.

Illustration photo. (Source: Internet)

According to a research team from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), this is mainly due to the inability to determine the actual mechanism by which hepatitis C virus affects the liver.

"This research will enable significant advances in the treatment of hepatitis C patients because it has identified how the hepatitis C virus interacts with liver cells," said Choi Cheol-hee, a professor of biology at KAIST.

According to a press release from KAIST, the study confirmed that the hepatitis C virus stimulates tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α), which causes the protein to promote apoptotic cell death and thus causes what can be described as self-destruction in the liver.

This means that TNF-α, which is supposed to fight the hepatitis virus, actually kills healthy liver cells at the same time. Therefore, the above research allows the development of a new drug with no side effects that can minimize damage to the liver during the treatment of this viral disease./.

According to (Vietnam+) - NT