Promising investigational therapeutic monoclonal antibody to treat chronic hepatitis B and D infections medicalxpress.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from medicalxpress.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Approximately 300 million people worldwide are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV) and at high risk of developing liver cirrhosis or hepatocellular carcinoma.
New Standards to Measure Hepatitis B in Liver Cells miragenews.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from miragenews.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
New combination therapy proven to be highly effective in HBV infection model
Around 260 million people, more than three percent of the global population, are chronically infected with the hepatitis B virus (HBV); in the long term, this often leads to complications such as liver cirrhosis and liver cancer. A cure is not yet possible with the available medication. Scientists at the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) and the University Hospital Eppendorf (UKE) have now investigated a new combination therapy that has proven highly effective in their infection model.
The new therapeutic approach is based on shutting down the viral hepatitis B genome located in the nucleus of infected liver cells. Upon infection of the liver cell, the viral genome is transformed inside the nucleus into a closed circular DNA molecule. This deoxyribonucleic acid is a stable molecule known as covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA) and serves as the template for the production of new viruses.