Animal models for the study of hepatitis B virus infection

Even with an effective vaccine, an estimated 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) worldwide. Current antiviral therapies, including interferon and nucleot(s)ide analogues, rarely cure chronic hepatitis B. Animal models are very crucial for understanding the pathog...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Wei-Na Guo, Bin Zhu, Ling Ai, Dong-Liang Yang, Bao-Ju Wang
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Science Press, PR China 2018-01-01
Series:Zoological Research
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.zoores.ac.cn/EN/abstract/abstract3871.shtml
Description
Summary:Even with an effective vaccine, an estimated 240 million people are chronically infected with hepatitis B virus (HBV) worldwide. Current antiviral therapies, including interferon and nucleot(s)ide analogues, rarely cure chronic hepatitis B. Animal models are very crucial for understanding the pathogenesis of chronic hepatitis B and developing new therapeutic drugs or strategies. HBV can only infect humans and chimpanzees, with the use of chimpanzees in HBV research strongly restricted. Thus, most advances in HBV research have been gained using mouse models with HBV replication or infection or models with HBV-related hepadnaviral infection. This review summarizes the animal models currently available for the study of HBV infection.
ISSN:2095-8137
2095-8137