title: Towards prediction of HCV therapy efficiency.
abstract: We investigate a correlation between genetic diversity of hepatitis C virus population and the level of viral RNA accumulation in patient blood. Genetic diversity is defined as the mean Hamming distance between all pairs of virus RNA sequences representing the population. We have found that a low Hamming distance (i.e. low genetic diversity) correlates with a high RNA level; symmetrically, high diversity corresponds to a low RNA level. We contend that the obtained correlation strength justifies the use of the viral RNA level as a measure enabling prediction of efficiency of an established therapy. We also propose that patient qualification for therapy, based on viral RNA level, improves its efficiency.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Computing Science, Poznan University of Technology, Piotrowo 2, 60-965 Poznan, Poland. szymon.wasik@cs.put.poznan.pl
authors.forename: Szymon
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wasik
authors.forename: Paulina
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Jackowiak
authors.forename: Jacek B
authors.initials: JB
authors.lastname: Krawczyk
authors.forename: Paweł
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kedziora
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Formanowicz
authors.forename: Marek
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Figlerowicz
authors.forename: Jacek
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Błazewicz
mesh_terms: D000465:Algorithms; D003198:Computer Simulation; D014644:Genetic Variation / Q000235:genetics*; D016174:Hepacivirus / Q000235:genetics*; D006526:Hepatitis C / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D008954:Models, Biological; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D012367:RNA, Viral