A shorter course of therapy over 12 weeks with peginterferon alfa-2b and ribavirin is as effective as a 24-week course for patients with HCV genotype 2 or 3 who have a response to treatment at 4 weeks.

Variable treatment duration ensures SVR rates similar to those of standard treatment duration, sparing unnecessary side effects and costs.

The recognition of b-glucans by dectin-1 has been shown to mediate cell activation, cytokine production and a variety of antifungal responses. Here, we report that the functional activity of dectin-1 in mucosal immunity to Candida albicans is influenced by the genetic background of the host. Dectin-1 was required for the proper control of gastrointestinal and vaginal candidiasis in C57BL/6, but not BALB/c mice; in fact, the latter showed increased resistance in the absence of dectin-1. The susceptibility of dectin-1-deficient C57BL/6 mice to infection was associated with defects in IL-17A and aryl hydrocarbon receptor-dependent IL-22 production and in adaptive Th1 responses. In contrast, the resistance of dectin-1-deficient BALB/c mice was associated with increased IL-17A and IL-22 production and the skewing towards Th1/Treg immune responses that provide immunological memory. Disparate canonical/ noncanonical NF-kB signaling pathways downstream of dectin-1 were activated in the two different mouse strains. Thus, the net activity of dectin-1 in antifungal mucosal immunity is dependent on the host's genetic background, which affects both the innate cytokine production and the adaptive Th1/Th17 cell activation upon dectin-1 signaling.

In hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotypes 2 and 3 patients, the high rate of relapse after 12 to 16 weeks of antiviral therapy is the main concern for shortening treatment duration. This study was undertaken to delineate predictors of relapse after short treatment in patients with undetectable HCV RNA at treatment week 4 (RVR), and to report in RVR patients with relapse the sustained virological response (SVR) after a second 24-week course of therapy. RVR patients received pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) alfa-2b (1.5 g/kg) and ribavirin (1000-1200 mg/day) for 12 weeks; those who relapsed were retreated with the same drug doses but for the extended standard duration of 24 weeks. Logistic regression analysis was applied to delineate predictors of relapse by using age, sex, route of transmission, body mass index ( I n patients with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) genotype 2 and 3 infection, a combination of pegylated interferon (Peg-IFN) with ribavirin attained sustained virological response (SVR) rates of up to 88% when administered for the standard duration of 24 weeks. [1][2][3][4] In the event the infection was cleared at treatment week 4, length of treatment may be shortened to 12 to 16 weeks without compromising SVR rates. [5][6][7][8] The major concern about the implementation of short treatment in clinical practice is the relapse rate. 9 In our original investigation, in which truncated treatment was offered only to patients with rapid virological response (RVR), relapse amounted to 10%, 5 a figure not different from the 10% to 12% values reported in other studies that used short treatment duration. 6,8 At a variance, when genotype 2 and 3 infected patients were treated for 16 weeks, irrespective of the RVR status, the rate increased to 31%. 9 Defining efficacy of re-treating patients who relapse after a shortened course of therapy is of paramount relevance, but only limited information on this aspect is available: 9 of 10 relapsers after short therapy who agreed to be re-treated for 24 weeks eventually cleared the infection. 5

Key Points Blockade of VWF-A1 by ALX-0081 induces reperfusion of a thrombus-occluded middle cerebral artery without provoking cerebral bleeding. The interaction between GPIb and VWF is not only essential for platelet adhesion but also for initial thrombus stabilization.