U.S., Feb. 19 -- ClinicalTrials.gov registry received information related to the study (NCT06833021) titled 'Screening for Hepatitis Virus B Protein X (HBx) in Colitis-associated Cancer (CAC)' on Feb. 12.
Brief Summary: We recently discovered that a protein from the Hepatitis B Virus (HBV), called HBx, is highly present in patients who were recently diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis (UC). This was more common in UC patients than in healthy individuals or those with Crohn's Disease. About 45% of the UC patients we studied had this protein, possibly due to a virus jumping from animals to humans.
In experiments with mice, we found that HBx alone can cause colitis (inflammation of the colon) by disrupting the normal function of the gut lining...