The deletion variant is more common
in people of
African ancestry, which helps partially explain why
African-Americans have a lower response to current hepatitis C treatments than patients of Asian and European ancestry.
"Our work fulfills several promises of the genomic era," said NCI's Thomas R. O'Brien, M.D., Infections and Immunoepidemiology Branch, DCEG. "One, a better understanding of biology; two, personalized medicine; and three, new potential treatments.