New insight in the pathobiology of hepatitis B virus infection
- 12 April 2012
- Vol. 61 (Suppl 1), i6-i17
- https://doi.org/10.1136/gutjnl-2012-302056
Abstract
Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection remains a major health burden and the main risk factor for the development of hepatocellular carcinoma worldwide. However, HBV is not directly cytopathic and liver injury appears to be mostly caused by repeated attempts of the host's immune responses to control the infection. Recent studies have shown that the unique replication strategy adopted by HBV enables it to survive within the infected hepatocyte while complex virus–host interplays ensure the virus is able to fulfil its replication requirements yet is still able to evade important host antiviral innate immune responses. Clearer understanding of the host and viral mechanisms affecting HBV replication and persistence is necessary to design more effective therapeutic strategies aimed at improving the management of patients with chronic HBV infection to eventually achieve viral eradication. This article focuses on summarising the current knowledge of factors influencing the course of HBV infection, giving emphasis on the use of novel assays and quantitative serological and intrahepatic biomarkers as tools for predicting treatment response and disease progression.Keywords
This publication has 98 references indexed in Scilit:
- Strong influence of human leukocyte antigen (HLA)-DP gene variants on development of persistent chronic hepatitis B virus carriers in the Han Chinese populationHepatology, 2011
- Hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) levels in the natural history of hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infection: A European perspectiveJournal of Hepatology, 2010
- The role of quantitative hepatitis B serology in the natural history and management of chronic hepatitis BHepatology International, 2009
- HBsAg inhibits TLR9-mediated activation and IFN-α production in plasmacytoid dendritic cellsMolecular Immunology, 2009
- Hepatitis B virus infectionThe Lancet, 2009
- The Characteristics of the Cell-Mediated Immune Response Identify Different Profiles of Occult Hepatitis B Virus InfectionGastroenterology, 2008
- Molecular Virology of Hepatitis B Virus for CliniciansClinics in Liver Disease, 2007
- Immunology of hepatitis B virus and hepatitis C virus infectionNature Reviews Immunology, 2005
- Toll-like receptor signallingNature Reviews Immunology, 2004
- Persistence of cccDNA during the natural history of chronic hepatitis B and decline during adefovir dipivoxil therapyGastroenterology, 2004