Evaluation of the health-related quality of life using the 36-item short form health survey in patients with chronic hepatitis C receiving pegylated interferon/ribavirin/telaprevir triple treatment.

The rate of sustained virologic response (SVR) has increased in patients with chronic hepatitis C (CHC; genotype 1) since triple treatment with pegylated interferon (PEG-IFN), ribavirin (RBV) and telaprevir (TVR) was included in Japanese health insurance. However, side effects such as high-grade anemia and skin disorders means it is important to investigate the extent to which quality of life (QOL) is maintained during treatment. The impact on health-related (HR) QOL, as a result of TVR-based triple treatment was investigated long-term (48 weeks) in 34 patients (18 men, 16 women) following TVR-based triple treatment, using the 36-item short form health survey (SF-36).

Minor contribution of an internal ribosome entry site in the 5'-UTR of ornithine decarboxylase mRNA on its translation.

The mechanism of synthesis of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) at the level of translation was studied using cell culture and cell-free systems. Synthesis of firefly luciferase (Fluc) from the second open reading frame (ORF) in a bicistronic construct transfected into FM3A and HeLa cells was enhanced by the presence of the 5'-untranslated region (5'-UTR) of ODC mRNA between the two ORFs. However, cotransfection of the gene encoding 2A protease inhibited the synthesis of Fluc.