Patent ID: 7674578
Filing Date: 2010-03-09
Classification: A61P,C12Q,G01N

Abstract:
1. A method of assessing whether a hepatitis C virus (HCV) infected patient is likely to spontaneously clear the virus, the method comprising: measuring an expression level of a short form of interferon-gamma-inducible protein 10 (sIP-10) in a sample from the patient during the acute stage of the HCV infection; and comparing the expression level of sIP-10 of the patient to an expression level of sIP-10 at the acute stage of a reference sample, thereby assessing the ability of the patient to clear the hepatitis C virus based on the expression level of sIP-10, wherein the HCV has genotype 1 or 4, the reference sample is derived at the acute stage of the infection from a group that thereafter spontaneously cleared the HCV infection, and an increased expression of sIP-10 relative to the expression of the reference sample is indicative of a decreased ability to clear the HCV.