WELCOME TO THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR THE STUDY OF THE LIVER

The 2020 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded jointly to Harvey J. Alter, Michael Houghton and Charles M. Rice for the discovery of Hepatitis C virus. Labelled a Cinderella story of medicine, investigations for causes and prevention of ‘post-transfusion hepatitis’ started with Harvey Alter an aspiring haematologist who collaborated with Baruch Blumberg leading to the discovery of hepatitis B; Harvey Alter was the second author in the original article (view > here) and the first author of the next describing the characteristics of the ‘Australia antigen’ (view > here).

Harvey Alter later observed that only 20% of transfusion hepatitis was explained by the hepatitis B virus and carried on to demonstrate the transmissibility of the ‘non-A, non-B hepatitis virus ’ in chimpanzees. Michael Haughton led the direct molecular cloning of HCV (view > here). While Blumberg won the Nobel Prize way back in 1976, Alter together with Houghton in 2000 and Charles Rice in 2016 (for his seminal work on HCV replicon system) received the Lasker Award (hailed as a pre-Nobel award).

Following the Lasker Award, Alter said that ‘I am perhaps the thread that links these events, but the story is a fabric woven by many collaborators who played essential parts and by the conducive environment of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) intramural program that has nurtured these clinical investigations...My gratitude is without bounds’. He also wrote about the discovery of Australia antigen, a serendipity (view > here).

Houghton’s response to the Nobel award was that ‘We thought it would be solved quickly, but it actually took seven years to find’.

Rice reminisced that ‘Manufacturers are now attempting to lower the price, in part by granting production rights in poorer countries. I would have been much happier had it been more rapid.’ Rice also told the interviewer that the WHO was unlikely to be able to eradicate the virus by 2030, in part because a broadly effective and widely available vaccine was still years away.

An essay on the history of Hepatitis C by Harvey Alter, was recently published online in the AASLD Journal Clinical Liver Disease;  Download History Of HCV - BLOG 2020.pdf

Guruprasad Aithal
President, BASL

The Royal College of Physicians’ Accreditation Unit is seeking to appoint a quality lead to take responsibility for the level one submissions of services working towards full accreditation and supporting services to level 2. The post holder will represent IQILS and support the development of the programme and increase awareness and engagement among Liver services. 

This is an exciting and varied role suitable for a consultant hepatologist. The time commitment is 0.5 PA per week. The role description can be found on the IQILS website: https://www.iqils.org/CMS/AllNews.aspx 

If you are interested in this role, please send your CV and a supporting statement of no more than 2 pages outlining how you meet the person specification to askiqils@rcplondon.ac.uk by the closing date.

Please contact the IQILS manager, Madeline Bano at askiqils@rcplondon.ac.uk if you have any questions or would like an informal discussion about the role.

Applications will close at midnight on Sunday 8 November 2020. Interviews will be held in the morning of Thursday 19 November.

The Royal College of Physicians (RCP) believes that equality of opportunity is fundamental in whatever way individuals become involved with the RCP, whether as physicians, physicians-in-training or staff. It welcomes and actively seeks to recruit people to its activities regardless of race, religion, ethnic origin, disability, age, gender and sexual orientation. The RCP aims to reflect the diversity of its members in all its committee, senior roles and staff.

Many people have been consuming more alcohol during lockdown, especially those with hazardous or harmful drinking behaviour. Anecdotal observations suggest an increase in the number and severity of admissions of patients with alcohol-related liver disease (ArLD) since lockdown was implemented with more patients presenting with advanced disease including variceal haemorrhage and alcoholic hepatitis. The ArLD Special Interest Group aims to perform a systematic national service evaluation of ArLD hospital episodes to determine whether the number of ArLD patients and the severity of their disease is different post-lockdown compared to a similar period in 2019. Working in collaboration with Public Health colleagues, this information will be combined with a national dataset to help us understand the effect of lockdown on our vulnerable patient group and to plan alcohol services at a local and national level.

We need your help to contribute data from your Trust. We are using a validated Excel-based tool to identify eligible patients and a simple Excel data collection tool. An evaluation lead and any other assistant (e.g. specialty trainee) at each participating centre will be recognised as co-authors in any publications that arise from this evaluation.

To register your interest in participating in this national service evaluation and to receive further details, please email me at ashwin.dhanda@nhs.net .

Thank you for your support,

Ashwin
Dr Ashwin Dhanda, BASL ArLD SIG lead