IL28 B test question

[rexx73]

hello,

today i had my routine tests in the hospital.

the doc also ordered a IL28 B test.

my question is why,
i did the soc therapy already and fail to become svr.i did respond but i did not clear so i think im a kind of partial responder.
does this test predict the chances for svr with the soc, or does this test also show your chances with the triple drug therapy?

thanks for some answers.

[Trinity4]

No, only how you will respond to interferon.  I suppose that could be factored into the equation but the success rate with the PI's would have to include CC, CT and TT across the board.

Trinity

[uncledudeness]

I had the test done a few months back. it basically predicts how well you will respond to SOC.

I am a CC type. was i happy to find that out.

here is some info on it:

http://hepatitiscresearchandnewsupdates.blogspot.com/2010/12/il28b-and-control-of-hepatitis-c-virus.html

[rexx73]

thanks for quick replies.

so i still can hope for svr with the pi s even i am ct or tt?

[Trinity4]

I'm curious about that too but given the high success rate in the trial stats with the PI's  which I'm pretty sure did not include an IL28B test for all my thinking is we have a good chance at SVR.  Would a CT or TT indicate 48 wks of interferon as opposed to 24 weeks?  Don't know, but as relapser and including a PI,  I wouldn't do anything less than 48 weeks even with an RVR.

Trinity

[merryBe]

the test is predictive of response. 85% accurate, meaning not the complete reason people succeed or fail, but an important one. If your alleles indicate your immune system has already been exposed before, in some past millenia, and made the adaptive changes which make it more apt to work against the virus, then yes your chances are better with standard SOC than in the other two groups.
If you have the middle or the worse combo, then waiting for the PI to be included in tx would be wisdom, since your chances are significantly less than the original statistics indicated.

Statistically the averages were based on all outcomes, when broken down with the IL28b factored in, it becomes apparent that not all immune systems were created equal when it comes to recognizing and fighting this virus.
In other words, folks who originally thought they had a 50% chance at succeeding now discover they have only a 25% chance, or a 10% chance...that kind of changes the rational with new and better drugs right on the horizon.

The weaker your own immune response, the more waiting for the new classes of drugs makes more sense.

[his3707]

If one were going to wait until the new drugs are available, would they want to have this IL28b test done.  I called LabCorp today and without insurance its about 360.00.  I was going to do the test.   But I am not doing current SOC for sure.  I hope to treat this summer or at least by the end of the year.  If it doesnt matter with the new drug I wont get it done.    Thanks for any replys the

[uncledudeness]

i was rejected for several trial last year. i was reading the clinicaltrials.gov website and i came across GI-5005 ; a trial offered by Globe Immune. I asked my Hep DR if i could screen for the trial. he said that i probably wouldn't get in. i said my motivation is to get the IL-28 B test done. He said "good idea", and smiled at me.

hmmmmm. use all the tools you have available to you.

here is the trial info:

http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00606086?term=gi5005&rank=1

go for it.

[merryBe]

at first I shared your logic, I mean, if you are waiying for the PI, then why get it done, seemed logical, because at that point you are getting state of art TX, so why bother...your odds will still be effected by your genetics of course, but they will be better with the PI, refardless...

but then it dawned on me, I still have to make the case for the Alinia preload, and without that test I might have less of a case there, if my genes are bad then a better case...

plus, there are EVEn newer drugs that I'm particularly interested in, knowing what I now know about how this virus mutates. They will also be here soon, and will cause the chief problem, Riba absorption, to go bye bye.
This is important because delivering a 4 pronged punch is now the current thinking, that cutting off all the ways the virus can mutate at once is key to not developing any resistant virons, so if the window to get Riba INTO the cells can be reduced from weeks to hours, that will also give us a leg up.


Now, if I had the worse genetics I'd be rather tempted to wait for those drugs, especially if stage 1 or 2...cutting tx. time to weeks not months or years, getting SVR 98% of the time instead of like now...but the thing is, what I'd be willing to wait for, in late stage especially should be somewhat dependant on what I'm up against.
If someone has been told they are 50% likely to succeed...when it fact it's only 10%, I'd want to know that.
It changes strategies, makes us push for more agressive treatment, be more treatment compliant, etc...and for those on the good side of the equation, it means they have an 80% chance of success not the original 50% that all the 1a's were told.
Once you factor in the IL28 it does change the tx landscape quite a bit so for my money it's a good thing to know.

mb