It might be time for fall midterms and Halloween, but October is also Liver Cancer Awareness Month. Liver cancer is a deadly disease that kills approximately 27,000 people every year and can be caused when the liver is damaged (e.g. cirrhosis, scarring of the liver), especially when this damage is caused by hepatitis (Source: CDC). Chronic hepatitis B cases are especially dangerous: infections cause at least 54% of all liver cancer worldwide, according to Hepatitis B Foundation, an organization that conducts research and provides information about hepatitis B.
However, recent research from Germany's Helmholtz Zentrum München, Technical University of Munich, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, and University Hospital Heidelberg might have a solution. T-cells, the cells that protect our body, have been found to specialize in fighting a specific disease. However, hep B patients have no T-cells in their body that are Hepatitis B specific. By utilizing T-cells from people who have recovered from hepatitis B, patients can call for reinforcements to help them fight hep B. The research is still in its infancy, though. Scientists have succeeded with a mouse model; further research is needed to determine efficacy in humans (Source: Helmholtz Zentrum München). In the future, such research in Hepatitis B will perhaps help cure people of hepatitis B and therefore decrease incidents of liver cancer.
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