Recipients
Sandra Schulz
Supervisor(s):
Sylvia Van Drunen Little-van den Hurk
An estimated 180 million people worldwide are infected with hepatitis C virus, a major cause of chronic liver disease. Three to four million are newly infected each year. Hepatitis C virus is widespread among Canadian First Nations people, particularly in Saskatchewan. The current treatment – a combination of interferon and ribavirin – is often ineffective. Dr. Sandra Schulz is looking for new, more reliable treatments.
It has been found that, during persistent hepatitis C virus infection, a population of dendritic cells appears to be functionally impaired. As dendritic cells are the most important immune cells for the introduction of a primary immune response to infection and vaccination, Dr. Schulz’s research objective is to determine if a particular enzyme, known to inhibit the development of an immune response, is modified in the dendritic cells of hepatitis C virus patients.
Dr. Schulz hopes her research will contribute to our understanding of why the majority of hepatitis C virus patients do not clear infection and respond poorly to vaccination. Such a discovery has the potential to identify inhibitors that, when used in conjunction with drug therapy or vaccination, will be of significant value in treating patients with hepatitis C virus.
