by Ehime University

Two main types of immune therapies have been employed to treat chronic hepatitis B during the last 4 decades. However, it seems that HBV-antigen-specific immune therapy may be safe and effective. Credit: Ehime University

Hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection is global in nature and induces several liver diseases, such as chronic hepatitis B (CHB), cirrhosis of the liver (LC) and hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). A total of 882,000 patients died of HBV-related liver diseases in 2019. This large number of deaths and HBV morbidity can be contained if patients with CHB are provided with proper management strategies.

Currently, two varieties of antiviral drugs are approved for the treatment of CHB patients. However, the outcome of treatment with these antiviral drugs is neither rationally satisfactory nor patient-friendly. These drugs come with major limitations, such as cost, infinite usage, adverse effects, and low efficacy.

On the basis of the retrieved information, it seems that immune therapy may be an alternate therapeutic approach for treating CHB patients. In this article, it is shown why antiviral drugs and innovative antiviral compounds have limited roles in the treatment of CHB patients. On the other hand, the scope of immune therapies has been rationalized by providing scientific evidence and analyzing the mechanism of action of CHB. Therefore, various immune therapy designs have been proposed for treating CHB patients.

The research was published in the Journal of Gastroenterology .

More information: Sheikh Mohammad Fazle Akbar et al, Immune therapies against chronic hepatitis B, Journal of Gastroenterology (2022). DOI: 10.1007/s00535-022-01890-8

Provided by Ehime University