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Blockbuster expectations for hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine

Nature Biotechnology volume 33, page 789 (2015)Cite this article

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More than 240 million people worldwide are chronically infected with HBV, according to the World Health Organization, with some 650,000 deaths a year attributed to the virus. Infection levels are particularly high in the Asia-Pacific region. In China, 7% of the adult population is thought to be infected, partly because of a lack of childhood preventive vaccination with the long-approved prophylactic recombinant hepatitis B surface antigen vaccine programs and high rates of mother-to-newborn transmission.

Current best therapies are pegylated (PEG) recombinant subcutaneous interferon-α and viral DNA polymerase inhibitors. These agents decrease viral replication and slow disease progression, but cure only a minority of chronically infected individuals. Viral levels in blood plummet to almost undetectable levels in 90% of individuals receiving standard therapies, but intrahepatic viral DNA reductions are more modest. As a consequence, the virus rebounds soon after treatment stops and people with chronic HBV infections must stay on lifelong treatment. But even after ten years on antiviral therapy, drugs reduce liver failure by only 40–70%, and mortality from cirrhosis and liver cancer remains high.

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  1. Buxton, UK

    Suzanne Elvidge

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  1. Suzanne Elvidge
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Elvidge, S. Blockbuster expectations for hepatitis B therapeutic vaccine. Nat Biotechnol 33, 789 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0815-789

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