Sci-Bytes> Hot Paper in Medicine
Week of October 2, 2011
"Genetic variation in IL28B predicts hepatitis C treatment-induced viral clearance," by Dongliang Ge and 12 others, Nature, 461(7262): 399-401, 17 September 2009.
[Authors' affiliations: Duke University, Durham, NC; Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, NJ; Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, MD]
Abstract: "Chronic infection with hepatitis C virus (HCV)
affects 170 million people worldwide and is the leading cause of cirrhosis
in North America. Although the recommended treatment for chronic infection
involves a 48-week course of peginterferon-a-2b (PegIFN-a-2b) or -a-2a
(PegIFN-a-2a) combined with ribavirin (RBV), it is well known that many
patients will not be cured by treatment, and that patients of European
ancestry have a significantly higher probability of being cured than
patients of African ancestry. In addition to limited efficacy, treatment is
often poorly tolerated because of side effects that prevent some patients
from completing therapy. For these reasons, identification of the
determinants of response to treatment is a high priority. Here we report
that a genetic polymorphism near the IL28B gene, encoding
interferon-?-3 (IFN-?-3), is associated with an approximately twofold
change in response to treatment, both among patients of European ancestry
(P = 1.06 x 10-25 and African-Americans (P = 2.06 x 10-3). Because the
genotype leading to better response is in substantially greater frequency
in European than African populations, this genetic polymorphism also
explains approximately half of the difference in response rates between
African-Americans and patients of European ancestry."
This 2009 report from Nature was cited 65 times
in current journal articles indexed by Clarivate during May-June
2011. During that two-month period, only one other paper published in the
last two years and indexed under the main heading of clinical medicine
garnered a higher number of citations. Prior to the most recent bimonthly
count, citations to the paper have accrued as follows:
March-April 2011: 82 citations
January-February 2011: 27
November-December 2010: 37
September-October 2010: 42
July-August 2010: 34
May-June 2010: 22
March-April 2010: 16
January-February 2010: 8
November-December 2009: 7
September-October 2009: 4
Total citations to date: 344
SOURCE: Hot Papers Database (Included with a subscription to Science Watch®, available from the Research Services Group of Thomson Reuters. The Hot Papers Database contains data on hundreds of highly cited papers published during the last two years. User interface permits searching by author, organization, journal, field, and more. Total citations, as well as citations accrued during successive bimonthly periods, can be assessed and graphed. New Hot Papers updates are produced every two months.
Spotlighted Feature
Special Country Features:
Top 20 Countries:
Citations in Five-Year Increments, and the 10th annual list of the
Top 20 Countries in ALL
FIELDS, 2001-August 31, 2011.