Hep-Net - Network of Competence for Hepatitis

The network of competence for hepatitis (Hep-Net) is one of the fourteen networks of excellence of medicine, that are promoted by the "Bundesministerium für Bildung und Forschung". Hep-Net will support the nation-wide research of viral hepatitis and will develop uniform diagnostic and therapeutic standards for five years. Epidemiological data will also be collected. For the first time it was managed to get together all accepted experts (about 120) in the field of hepatitis. Hospitals, general practitioners and patient advocacy groups are integrated beside the investigators of the universities. Viral hepatitis is one of the most common infectious diseases in the world. In Germany almost 1 million people are infected with hepatitis caused by the viruses B, C and D. They damage the liver and result in a proceeding inflammation. The organ is altered into scarred connective tissue (cirrhosis) and may fail without treatment. A further danger is the development of liver cancer - a hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

Although great advances in the understanding of virus infection and therapy have been made in the last years, only half of the patients with chronic hepatitis C and a quarter of the patients with chronic hepatitis B can be treated successfully. This results in the following questions for the network of excellence for hepatitis:

• How often are infections with hepadnae viruses in Germany and what is the natural course of the disease in the different groups at risk?
  
• Why are some patients able to eradicate the viruses of Hepatitis B or C while about 5-10 % of the patients with acute hepatitis B and 50-80 % of the patients with acute hepatitis C take a chronic course?
  
• Why is the natural course of the hepatitis C infection mild in some patients, while, in other patients, the disease progresses fast and results in HCC?
  
• Which treatment is best for which patient?
  
• Why is the vaccination against hepatitis B not successful in approximately 5 % of the cases?

The filing of application happened in 2001 in co-operation with research establishments all over Germany by the department for Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Endocrinology of the Medical School of Hannover (Medizinische Hochschule Hannover).

Press releases

Further Information: www.kompetenznetz-hepatitis.de