title: Therapy of chronic hepatitis B virus infection: inhibition of the viral polymerase and other antiviral strategies.
abstract: Chronic hepatitis B infection remains a major public health problem worldwide. The hepatitis B virus belongs to the family of hepadnaviruses that replicate their DNA genome via a reverse transcription pathway. The chronicity of infection in infected hepatocytes is maintained by the persistence of the viral covalently closed circular DNA. The main strategies to combat chronic HBV infection rely on the stimulation of the specific antiviral immune response and on the inhibition of viral replication. While the prolonged administration of reverse transcriptase inhibitors is most often associated with a control of viral replication rather than eradication, it may select for resistant mutants. The search for new viral targets is therefore mandatory to design combination strategies to prevent the emergence of resistant mutants and eventually clear viral infection.
authors.affiliation: INSERM Unit 271, Lyon, France. zoulim@lyon151.inserm.fr
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Zoulim
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000998:Antiviral Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000502:physiology; D015870:Gene Expression / Q000187:drug effects; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000188:drug therapy*; D006801:Humans; D019384:Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase / Q000502:physiology; D011991:Receptors, Virus / Q000378:metabolism; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; D019065:Virus Assembly / Q000187:drug effects; D016662:Virus Integration; D014779:Virus Replication / Q000187:drug effects
chemical_list: D000998:Antiviral Agents; D019384:Nucleic Acid Synthesis Inhibitors; D011991:Receptors, Virus; D018894:Reverse Transcriptase Inhibitors; D015534:Trans-Activators; D054334:Viral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins; C057628:hepatitis B virus X protein; D012194:RNA-Directed DNA Polymerase; D004259:DNA-Directed DNA Polymerase