The main research activities of the department of Hepatitis and AIDS consist of all viral hepatitis especially “blood born” viruses, and human immunodeficiency viruses (HIV-1, HIV-2), with focus on investigations on their molecular epidemiology, pathogenesis,  designing of anti-viral drugs, and different kinds of vaccines, utilizing  the variety of molecular approaches to inhibit viral replication or suppress their effects on signal transduction pathways and cell cycle, as well as developing specific anti-cancer viruses against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).

These efforts include all viruses inducing“Hepatitis” either  as  characterized viruses such as hepatitis A virus (HAV), hepatitis B virus (HBV), hepatitis C virus (HCV), hepatitis D virus (HDV), hepatitis E virus (HEV), GB virus C (HGV/ Pegivirus), cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)  or new viruses which might be emerged as the causative agents of hepatitis in future,  human immunodeficiency virus 1,2 (HIV-1,2) giving rise to  Acquired Immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), and human lymphotropic virus type 1 (HTLV-1). Meanwhile,  this department consists of a reference laboratory which has been officially certified since 2013 for diagnosis of viral hepatitis and AIDS.

 It would be our pleasure to invite you to read the interview with Prof. Mohammad Reza Aghasadeghi, the head of this department which was performed by the Department of Public Relations and International Affairs of Pasteur Institute of Iran conducted  at the same time of “the World AIDS Day” aimed to introduce the Department of Hepatitis and AIDS, the points of view and its missions toward the improvement of public health and training of expert researchers in viral hepatitis and AIDS in Iran.

Prof. Mohammad Reza Aghasadeghi graduated with a Ph.D degree in medical biotechnology from Pasteur Institute of Iran. Now he has about 25 years’ of experience as a researcher and  is the head of both departments of hepatitis and AIDS, as well as  blood-borne viruses and its reference laboratory.

Conducting applied and mission-oriented studies

Almost since the end of the 60s, the Pasteur Institute of Iran initiated  epidemiological and molecular studies on HIV and viral hepatitis. Over the years, the recruitment of expert faculties resulted in more practical and noticeable achievements.

Currently, eight  faculty members and several experts are working on various relevant  topics in this department. The colleagues of this department are performing studies in four  characterized main fields’ laboratories, including molecular epidemiology, vaccine design, host-virus interactions, and investigations on synthetic and herbal extracts effects on hepatitis and AIDS viruses. As noted earlier, our projects focus on development of diagnostic methods, vaccine design, and anti-viral drug resistance studies on viral hepatitis (including blood–borne and non-blood-borne hepatitis viruses) and also, other blood-borne viruses such as HIV-1,2 and HTLV-1.

What is more,  as per  the necessity for expert evaluation and officially approval of laboratory diagnostic kits that claimed they have been developed with high degrees of sensitivity and specificity to accurately detect hepatitis viruses and HIV-1,2 an important new mission to do the evaluation processes insidiously has been added to the activities of our department.

 In the meantime,  survey studies on the prevalence of viral hepatitis and ADIS and evaluation of  the impact of specific anti-viral treatments or educating the protection ways to prevent or diminish  viral transmission in some special groups such as prisoners, drug users, vulnerable women such as sex workers, and also, homosexuals, etc. are being conducted in our department as one of the other important mission.

Another field of interest in our department is performing many studies aimed at different aspects of cancers caused by the hepatitis viruses, and HTLV-1 such as virus-host genes interactions, oncogenes/carcinogens and the cancerous pathways and also, investigations on the ways to suppress /down-regulate the oncogenesis pathways.

Research projects and dissertations are being carried out considering these missions. Notably, a recent and respectable achievement was made by one of our faculty members who inactivated the SARS-CoV-2 virus and developed the “Barekat vaccine” against Covid-19.

Although this department is collaborating with other hepatitis and AIDS centers in Iran, it is a member of the national hepatitis network conducting a lot of research projects with excellent collaborations with clinical specialists on diagnosis, monitoring, and detecting of anti-viral drugs resistance substitutions.  

Investigations on anti-viral drug resistance substitutions

Although there is a preventive vaccine against the hepatitis B virus that has been used globally, in our country for several years, it seems that HBV infection has not been eliminated, still is considered as a health problem. One of the important reasons for that is known as “vaccine failure” the fact in which some people do not respond to the vaccine properly. Hence,  some of them are “poor responders” while the others are “non- responders” and both of them could be infected with HBV and spread the virus to their close contacts. Meanwhile,  some HBV and HCV infected patients do not respond to the anti- HBV/HCV drugs and they would not be cured (treatment failure) which can be resulted from anti-HBV/HCV drug resistance substitutions.

Based on this phenomenon, another remarkable  research field in our department, is the studies on detecting and monitoring the anti-HBV/HCV drug substitutions. This requires examining the population being treated to see if drug resistance has occurred in them.

National Collaborating Reference Laboratory of Hepatitis and AIDS

Hepatitis and AIDS are serious health and medical problems and are of great importance to the country and the world community. Since 2011, when the Collaborative Laboratory for Hepatitis and Education was established, at least 2000 diagnostic tests have been performed in this laboratory every year.

Our laboratory is related to the national system and its diagnostic activities are tested and audited annually. In some years, up to 20,000 samples have been tested for diagnostic and research works.

The cost of the tests is charged according to the government tariff and the specialized services management of Pasteur Institute of Iran supervises our diagnostic work. The results of the tests are usually announced  within two or three days.

Viral Vaccines Research Center: missions and activities

Recently, the Viral Vaccines Research Center has been set up in the Research and Production Complex of the Pasteur Institute of Iran in Karaj, where our colleagues are conducting a series of research activities relevant  to the Center’s aims and scopes.

Limited Research Funding is a Problem

Research funding is one of the main problems of researches. The department equipment needs to be updated, and at the same time, the cost of consumables and diagnostic and research kits has enhanced,  and the research budget must be increased. We have attempted  to maintain our relationship with the industry and attract funding in the form of projects, but still more efforts should be made to connect us with the industry and the health system, requiring the support of managers in this regard. On the other hand, the government should be encouraged to allocate more funds to research.