title: Engineering Hepadnaviruses as Reporter-Expressing Vectors: Recent Progress and Future Perspectives.
abstract: The Hepadnaviridae family of small, enveloped DNA viruses are characterized by a strict host range and hepatocyte tropism. The prototype hepatitis B virus (HBV) is a major human pathogen and constitutes a public health problem, especially in high-incidence areas. Reporter-expressing recombinant viruses are powerful tools in both studies of basic virology and development of antiviral therapeutics. In addition, the highly restricted tropism of HBV for human hepatocytes makes it an ideal tool for hepatocyte-targeting in vivo applications such as liver-specific gene delivery. However, compact genome organization and complex replication mechanisms of hepadnaviruses have made it difficult to engineer replication-competent recombinant viruses that express biologically-relevant cargo genes. This review analyzes difficulties associated with recombinant hepadnavirus vector development, summarizes and compares the progress made in this field both historically and recently, and discusses future perspectives regarding both vector design and application.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOH &amp; MOE) and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. bwy.1989@163.com.
authors.forename: Weiya
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Bai
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOH &amp; MOE) and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. cuixiaoxian9@hotmail.com.
authors.forename: Xiaoxian
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cui
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOH &amp; MOE) and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. yhxie@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Youhua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Xie
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory of Medical Molecular Virology (MOH &amp; MOE) and Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College, Fudan University, Shanghai 200032, China. liujing212@fudan.edu.cn.
authors.forename: Jing
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Liu
mesh_terms: D017930:Genes, Reporter; D005822:Genetic Vectors; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D013194:Staining and Labeling / Q000379:methods*; D014773:Virology / Q000379:methods*
keywords: DHBV; HBV; gene delivery; recombinant virus; viral vector