Animal Models of Hepatitis B Virus Infection-Success, Challenges, and Future Directions.

TitleAnimal Models of Hepatitis B Virus Infection-Success, Challenges, and Future Directions.
Publication TypeJournal Article
Year of Publication2021
AuthorsLiu, Y, Maya, S, Ploss, A
JournalViruses
Volume13
Issue5
Date Published2021 Apr 28
ISSN1999-4915
KeywordsAnimals, Disease Models, Animal, Disease Susceptibility, Genome, Viral, Hepatitis B, Hepatitis B virus, Host-Pathogen Interactions, Humans, Mice, Mice, Transgenic, Pan troglodytes, Viral Tropism
Abstract

<p>Chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection affects more than 250 million people worldwide, which greatly increases the risk for terminal liver diseases, such as liver cirrhosis and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Even though current approved antiviral therapies, including pegylated type I interferon (IFN) and nucleos(t)ide analogs, can effectively suppress viremia, HBV infection is rarely cured. Since HBV exhibits a narrow species tropism and robustly infects only humans and higher primates, progress in HBV research and preclinical testing of antiviral drugs has been hampered by the scarcity of suitable animal models. Fortunately, a series of surrogate animal models have been developed for the study of HBV. An increased understanding of the barriers towards interspecies transmission has aided in the development of human chimeric mice and has greatly paved the way for HBV research in vivo, and for evaluating potential therapies of chronic hepatitis B. In this review, we summarize the currently available animal models for research of HBV and HBV-related hepadnaviruses, and we discuss challenges and future directions for improvement.</p>

DOI10.3390/v13050777
Alternate JournalViruses
PubMed ID33924793
PubMed Central IDPMC8146732
Grant ListR01 AI138797 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01 AI153236 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
T32GM007388 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
T32 GM007388 / GM / NIGMS NIH HHS / United States
R01 AI107301 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States
R01 AI146917 / AI / NIAID NIH HHS / United States