IL28b genetic testing, what, when, where and how

[merryBe]

genetic testing...the new buzz word.  IL28b, the gene that tells the tale.

Find out if you have the genes to fight this disease.

Find out if your body will work with or against the chemo drugs by having one simple test, this could revolutionize our treatment decisions.

IL28b works on the Interlukin lambna, a cytokine with antiviral components.

I'm still waiting to see when they work out the kinks and start offering testing across the board.

This is a thread I'd like to see get stuff added to as it comes up.

here's a good primer for thos not yet familiar.

http://hepatitiscnewdrugs.blogspot.com/2010/03/il28b-gene-variation-predicts-response.html

If anybody knows where testing can be obtained post it here please.
What's the cost?
Did your insurance approve the test?
Does your doctor want to see testing etc.

Post any and all relevant info please.

mb

[Bali05]

was wondering what your opinion on this is
what do you think happens in regards to the virus when you put your body into
ketosis burning mostly fat and protein for energy instead of carbs ?

b

[Diane12855]

I almost posted when I saw everybody's response that you had lowered your lipid profile way lower than normal, because I thought I had read that before, but I figured you'd get on here and explain things much better than I could.

You didn't disappointed.... never do.
Diane

[RobertBeWell]

"boy, now here's a good example of folks reading into what I said. "

Yep, makes a different story when you supply some context. Your original post (as a reply) sounded like you were raising lipid levels to alter your genetic makeup to be more favorable to therapy.

Thanks for the links. It's interesting science, to be sure.

[merryBe]

yes, thanks for that, I guess where I was going with this is hoping to hear if some docs might start testing.
I've known about this for a year, but it seem high time some eggs should be broken, we're staving for an omelet.

It might help if we the patients started pushing for it...
I mean, I know it's expensive, and I know we live in the new age of "rationed care"..the D. Wernick buzz word again this week...but still

the benefit would outweigh the risk. WHy
because with the good genes you'd treat, and with the bad ones you wouldn't, unless you had a PI on board at the minimum.

It turns out they think Africans have the wrong genes because the outbreaks thousands of years ago weren't on their continent, and ergo their genes did not create an adaptive response!!
For african's ergo, knowing their gene profile is most important, it would make life far more bearable...as it is now, they have a horrible rate of failure...with this testing they would know, and it would be easier to justify treating them, if they had at least one good gene that is, otherwise, why poison a person with such lousy odds.  (my guess is most of the ones who did SVR had one good gene and more likely 2... anyway...they may be the anomalies within their ethnicity.)

I suppose we could say this will all be moot when PI's are here but maybe not...the chatter is that they may decide to give the good genes SOC only...and save the spendy PI's for the genetically challenged....DON'T shoot me...it's not MY idea...this is doctor chatter...it is being floated at the conferences. I don't like the idea, but I see how they arrived at it.
It may even work out well for folks in one sense, that the odds are only slightly lower with SOC vs. PI and Soc, for the good genes...and you miss all the PI sides, which can make tx much more difficult.

Meanwhile, back at the factory, I'm wondering how best to attack the beast....so I may do the test even if they won't pay for it...
so thanks for that link...
but I'm hoping the clinics will start to see the wisdom of this prescreening...
it could save folks from unneccessary grief, and/or allow them to make wiser choices that may save their lives....and of course, not everybody can afford the testing, so I'm praying they make it protocol.
The day is coming when they'll test drugs on your tissues ahead of time, and tell us if the drug will help or kill us...can't see how knowing that could be a bad thing!!

mb

[merryBe]

boy, now here's a good example of folks reading into what I said.

actually, I started out with very very low cholesterol. In fact the brain doesn't do well with no cholesterol so rather than continue to take tranquilizers (which hurt the liver) to control the shakes and tremors, which the chemo and helper drugs made permanent, I have tried to raise my lipid profile to normal levels...for me, that meant coming from below 100 to a whopping 150.

everyone gets scared about raising cholesterol, but it is essential to health. If you have spent years trying to keep your diet in check as I have, or if your liver is failing, as mine was, you can end up with too little cholesterol which is as bad as too much, and just as life threatening.

as to how the lipid profile changes your odds of tx working, well the verdict is still out judging from the abstracts I've read, but the general consensus seems to be that the less hydrophobic the cells are, the more likely they are to respond to tx.

Put simply this may mean that LDL is not the culprit once thought, at least not as far as the virus is concerned. How so?

Well, basically the virus loves to coat itself with lipids in order to protect itself from being killed off by the immune system or tx drugs. So then WHY can't we just eliminate fat and have a better result?  Well, in theory that sounds good...in fact vegetarians do do better SVRing, so that may help. HOWEVER the rub is tx is not really long enough to elimninate all our cat and cholesterol....and why not?  Not just because we store fat, but because cholesterol is SO essential to life that in it's absence (assuming zero fat in the diet) the liver will convert other tissues to cholesterol.

That's right, Chol. is so essential your body makes it whenever you run low. You can't blink without it, or breathe, or lots of other good stuff...so it has to be there, and the liver will dissolve muscle, dissolve brain tissue, anything it has to to find more Chol. when you need it.

ergo the next best approach, since we cannot eliminate the stuff is to put a more permeable coat on the virons. Meaning, since the buggers are going to put on raincoats before they go swimming in your blood, why not give them coats that leak!!!

This is where LDL has an advantage over HDL...LDL is a bigger softer, more permeable molecule than HDL... HDL means High density....harder oils basically...ergo, better coatong, ergo, HDL makes the cells more hydophopic, and the virons as well....whereas the LDL leaves more room for the possibility of permeability, if not clear into the viron, than at least to get TO the outer shell, which the higher density lipids prevent from happening.

I'm not saying folks should eat sticks of butter here...someone said that last week...and that's silly...but what we should do is pay attention to the science.
That science which incidentally also has proven that certain oils help with inflammation by slowing oxidation and carbohydrate metabolism...such things as R-ALA, PPC, Vitamin D. Etc.  The verdict is in that these lipids are helpful not harmful to the liver, taken in correct dosages.

mb

[Bill1954]

Could this be the thread you're referring to?

http://www.medhelp.org/posts/Hepatitis-C/Preliminary-EASL-Coverage-/show/1220912