Una investigadora de la Universidad de Navarra estudia nuevas estrategias contra el virus de la hepatitis C
A researcher at the University of Navarra studies new strategies against the hepatitis C virus
Aintzane Zabaleta Azpiroz focused on therapeutic vaccines, aimed at people already suffering from the disease.
Aintzane Zabaleta Azpiroz, a biologist at research center Applied Medicine of the University of Navarra (CIMA), has studied in her doctoral thesis new strategies to fight the hepatitis C virus based on cell therapy treatments and vaccines.
This contagious disease, which affects 170 million people, especially in underdeveloped countries, does not have, according to the new doctor, "a cure final, and causes a decrease in life expectancy of around 20 to 30 years". To advance in more effective treatments, the scientist has analyzed the alteration caused by some proteins of the virus in the immune system: "We have identified which elements of the virus produce this decrease in response in the immune system, as well as the lines that need to be studied in depth to improve current antiviral therapy".
Specifically, her research, directed by Pablo Sarobe, has focused on therapeutic vaccines -those manufactured to treat people who already have the disease-, "because as it is a chronic disease, over the years it leads to cirrhosis and hepatocarcinoma (liver tumors) that cause the death of the patient", explains the biologist.
The findings of this specialist have already been tested in animal models and in cell culture, "which opens up new expectations for clinical application in humans, although this phase will not be carried out until the procedure has undergone a rigorous analysis of the risks and benefits of the alternative treatment".
In addition to the study developed by Aintzane Zabaleta, two Gene Therapy and Hepatology laboratories are involved in the search for therapies and vaccines against hepatitis C at the research center Applied Medicine of the University of Navarra (CIMA). Directed by Jesús Prieto, this is the goal of researchers Rafael Aldabe, Esther Larrea, José Ignacio Riezu, Puri Fortes, Juanjo Lasarte and Francisco Borrás, among others.
Aintzane Zabaleta is currently a postdoctoral fellow at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Washington, D.C., where she continues her programs of study on the viral disease.