Model of viral lifecycle could help in finding a cure for hepatitis B
A new technique for studying the lifecycle of the hepatitis B virus could help researchers develop a cure for the disease. In a paper published today in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Sangeeta Bhatia of MIT and Charles Rice of Rockefeller University describe using microfabricated cell cultures to sustain hepatitis B virus in human liver cells, allowing them to study immune responses and drug treatments. Around 400 million people worldwide are infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV); of those, one-third will go on to develop life-threatening complications, such as cirrhosis and liver cancer. Although there is an effective HBV vaccine, only around 50 percent of people in some countries where the disease is endemic are vaccinated. A complete cure for the disease is very rare, once someone has been chronically infected. “Once a liver cell is infected, the viral genome persists inside the nucleus, and that can reactivate later,”...