Therapeutic vaccines and immune-based therapies for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B: perspectives and challenges

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J Hepatol. 2011 Jan 13. [Epub ahead of print]

Therapeutic vaccines and immune-based therapies for the treatment of chronic

hepatitis B: perspectives and challenges.

Miche ML, Deng Q, Mancini-Bourgine M.

Institut Pasteur, Laboratoire de Pathogenèse des virus de l'hépatite B,

département de virologie ;75015 Paris, France; INSERM U845, Centre de recherche

« Croissance et signalisation », Faculté de Médecine Paris Descartes;75015

Paris, France; AP-HP, Paris, France.

Abstract

The treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection has greatly improved

over the last 10 years, but alternative treatments are still needed. Therapeutic

vaccination is a promising new strategy for controlling chronic infection.

However, this approach has not been as successful as initially anticipated for

chronic hepatitis B. General impairment of the immune responses generated during

persistent HBV infection, with exhausted T cells not responding correctly to

therapeutic vaccination, is probably responsible for the poor clinical responses

observed to date. Intensive research efforts are now focusing on increasing the

efficacy of therapeutic vaccination without causing liver disease. We describe

here new approaches, for use with therapeutic vaccination, to overcome the

inhibitory mechanisms impairing immune responses. We also describe innovative

strategies for generating functional immune responses and inducing sustained

control of this persistent infection.

Copyright © 2011. Published by Elsevier B.V.

PMID: 21238516 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]