News
Head over to our 
PROLIFICA Twitter account to keep up-to-date with our research and team developments.
Recent news:
9 August 2022
The PROLIFICA team published an important systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of occult HBV infection in adults. The team identified 3952 articles in the literature over a 9-year period, and after exclusion of duplicates and articles that did not meet eligibility criteria, narrowed their review to 375 distinct cohorts unique by population or methodology that tested for occult Hepatitis B infection. The team concluded that occult HBV infection is common and clinically significant, but under-researched and under-recognised. More work needs undertaking to investigate occult Hepatitis B infection in Hepatitis B elimination programmes. You can find the team's publication in The Lancet here.
12 July 2022
A new letter has been published by the PROLIFICA team detailing a rapid point-of-care test for Hepatitis B Core-Related Antigen (HBcrAg) to diagnose high viral load in resource-limited settings. You can find the letter here.
8 July 2022
The PROLIFICA team published a new paper on HBV continuum of care in Senegal in JHEP Reports. You can find the publication here.
14 June 2022
The PROLIFICA team are pleased to share their latest review on the clinical utility of the 'Determine HBsAg' point-of-care test for Hepatitis B diagnosis in Africa. This publication is Amie Ceesay's (PhD Student, The Gambia) first, first author publication and Gibril Ndow's (Clinical Research Fellow, The Gambia) first senior author paper. Congratulations from the PROLIFICA team. Their review can be found here.
26 April 2022
Professor Maud Lemoine and Professor Mark Thursz, of Imperial College London, joined Guts UK charity and Imperial Biomedical Research Centre for a community event at Ealing Town Hall. The event was well attended by members of the local community who listed to talks about their liver and gut and learned about research that is currently underway in these fields of science.
4 April 2022
Professor Maud Lemoine recently discussed the work of the PROLIFICA team on delivering better treatment options for patients with Hepatitis B in Africa in Nature. You can find Professor Lemoine's thoughts on current treatment guidelines for Hepatitis B here.
2 February 2022
Dr Gibril Ndow (MRC Unit The Gambia) has been awarded a Wellcome Trust Fellowship for his Hepatitis B research. Gibril plans to further his investigations in to the metabolic fingerprints of Hepatitis B persistance and clearance and will work with Imperial College London to achieve this. Congratulations Gibril for your hard work!
18 January 2022
Professor Lemoine collaborated with Dr Uppy Gill of Queen Mary University of London to publish a 'Spotlight' in Cell Reports Medicine detailing the use of Antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) which are one of the agents being tested in the HBV-cure program. You can find the publication here.
8 December 2021
Professor Maud Lemoine, Dr Gibril Ndow and Dr Yusuke Shimakawa have just published a new commentary in the Journal of Viral Hepatitis. The commentary details the importance of increasing patient education and awareness of Hepatitis B in Africa to support roll out of treatments. The commentary can be found here.
13 September 2021
Several members of the PROLIFICA team from MRC Unit The Gambia led presentations at the 4th annual Conference on Liver Disease in Africa (COLDA). Three of the team members received Young Investigator awards for the conference. Rohey Bangura (Clinical Research Nurse), Isatou Ais’hah Mahmoud (Clinical Research Nurse), Dr Gibril Ndow (Clinical Research Fellow), Dr Sulayman Bah (Research Clinician) presented their knowledge and best practices on the management of viral hepatitis and liver disease in Africa. You can find out more about their presentations here. Congratulations for your hard work team!
28 July 2021
Today, on the 28th of July, World Hepatitis Day, the PROLIFICA research group (Prevention on Liver Fibrosis and Cancer in Africa) would like to express its strong commitment in the fight against viral hepatitis in Africa and in other endemic regions. Millions of people remain undiagnosed and untreated when needed, making the viral hepatitis elimination goals a long way to go. Strategies to improve prevention, screening and treatment are needed.
The image above shows the initiation of HBV antenatal screening in The Gambia.
20 September 2020
Important work from Dr Yusuke Shimakawa informing the WHO 2020 guidelines on the efficacy and safety of peripartum antiviral prophylaxis: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/laninf/article/PIIS1473-3099(20)30586-7/fulltext
19 September 2020
Look at our recent assessment of COVID-19 on viral hepatitis services in sub-Saharan Africa published in The Lancet Gastro-Hepatology
10 September 2020
Prevention of MTCT is critical to control the HBV epidemic but remains a major challenge in resource-limited settings. Dr Maud Lemoine discussed suitable strategies to scale up birth dose vaccination and screening of pregnant women at The Conference on Liver Disease in Africa (COLDA).
29 July 2020
Launch of new WHO guidelines for the Hepatitis B prevention of mother-to-child transmission. Cost-effectiveness modelling input from Dr Shevanthi Nayagam https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/978-92-4-000270-8
28 July 2020 - World Hepatitis Day
Check out some articles recently published by our PROLIFICA researchers at Imperial College London:
Strengthening vaccine confidence during the COVID-19 pandemic: A new opportunity for global hepatitis B virus elimination: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2020.06.008
Progress towards elimination goals for viral hepatitis: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-020-0332-6
PROLIFICA team member at Imperial College London, Dr Shevanthi Nayagam and colleagues, have worked with the WHO to launch their HBV PMTCT guidelines on World Hepatitis Day 2020. Shevanthi has contributed to the cost-effectiveness modelling of the guidelines. You can read more about the launch here: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/978-92-4-000270-8
27 July 2020
Ahead of World Hepatitis Day Dr Maud Lemoine has contributed to a new Viewpoint published in Nature Reviews Gastroenterology & Hepatology. The Viewpoint addresses progress made towards the elimination of viral hepatitis as a global health threat as we head towards the 2030 deadline set by the World Health Organization. Dr Lemoine discusses the importance of sustainable funding and the need for simplified diagnostic and treatment algorithms based on inexpensive tests that can be implemented easily in rural areas. You can read more here: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41575-020-0332-6.
18 June 2020
Dr Shevanthi Nayagam and Professor Maud Lemoine have contributed their expertise to the AfraVIH Book launched on 18 June 2020. The book reviews current developments in the fields of HIV, hepatitis and sexual health and more than 190 French-speaking experts in 17 countries have contributed to the publication. For over 10 years AfraVIH have been working to bring together French-speaking healthcare professionals involved in HIV and chronic viral infection research.
28 July 2018
2 July 2018
Following the development of TREAT-B score.
8 August 2017
5 January 2017
Professor Maud Lemoine wrote an article on HBV Screen and Treat.
2016
11 May 2014
Prof. Mourtalla Ka: Hépatite B - une urgence silencieuse au Sénégal
8 May 2014
