title: Therapeutic vaccination against chronic hepatitis B virus infection.
abstract: Chronic liver disease and hepatocellular carcinoma due to chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection pose a major public health problem in highly endemic regions. Effective vaccines against HBV exist but more than 370 million people remain chronically infected with HBV For these patients there is a high risk to develop cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently available therapies fail to control viral replication in the long term in most patients. Viral persistence has been associated with a defect in the development of HBV specific cellular immunity. Strategies to boost or to broaden the weak virus-specific T-cell response of patients with chronic hepatitis B have been proposed as a means of curing this persistent infection. HBV envelope- and nucleocapsid-based vaccines, new formulations for recombinant vaccines and DNA-based vaccines are currently being assessed in clinical trials. Improvements are clearly required, but vaccination is likely to be the cheapest and potentially most beneficial treatment.
authors.affiliation: Unité de Carcinogénèse Hépatique et Virologie Moléculaire, INSERM U370, Département de Médecine Moléculaire, Institut Pasteur, 75015 Paris, France. maloum@pasteur.fr
authors.forename: Marie Louise
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Michel
authors.forename: Maryline
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Mancini-Bourgine
mesh_terms: D018414:CD8-Positive T-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines / Q000276:immunology / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D019694:Hepatitis B, Chronic / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D007167:Immunotherapy; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic / Q000627:therapeutic use
chemical_list: D017325:Hepatitis B Vaccines; D014614:Vaccines, Synthetic