Assessing immunological and virological responses in the liver: Implications for the cure of chronic hepatitis B virus infectionKey points
Tobias Boettler,
Upkar S. Gill,
Lena Allweiss,
Teresa Pollicino,
John E. Tavis,
Fabien Zoulim
Affiliations
Tobias Boettler
Department of Medicine II (Gastroenterology, Hepatology, Endocrinology and Infectious Diseases), Freiburg University Medical Center, Faculty of Medicine, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; Corresponding author. Address: Department of Medicine II, Medical Center, Hugstetter Str. 55, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany; Tel.: +49 761 270 34043, fax: +49 761 270 32770.
Upkar S. Gill
Blizard Institute, Centre for Immunobiology, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, London, UK
Lena Allweiss
I. Medical Clinic and Polyclinic, University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, Hamburg, Germany; German Center for Infection Research (DZIF), Hamburg-Lübeck-Borstel-Riems sites, Germany
Teresa Pollicino
Department of Human Pathology, University Hospital ''G. Martino'' of Messina, Messina, Italy
John E. Tavis
Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology and Institute for Drug and Biotherapeutic Innovation, Saint Louis University, Saint Louis MO USA
Fabien Zoulim
INSERM Unit 1052 – Cancer Research Center of Lyon, Department of Hepatology Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon University, France; INSERM U1052, CNRS UMR-5286, Cancer Research Center of Lyon (CRCL), Department of Hepatology Hospices Civils de Lyon, Lyon University, France, Lyon, France.
Summary: Cure from chronic HBV infection is rare with current therapies. Basic research has helped to fundamentally improve our knowledge of the viral life cycle and virus-host interactions, and provided the basis for several novel drug classes that are currently being developed or are being tested in clinical trials. While these novel compounds targeting the viral life cycle or antiviral immune responses hold great promise, we are still lacking a comprehensive understanding of the immunological and virological processes that occur at the site of infection, the liver. At the International Liver Congress 2021 (ILC 2021), a research think tank on chronic HBV infection focused on mechanisms within the liver that facilitate persistent infection and looked at the research questions that need to be addressed to fill knowledge gaps and identify novel therapeutic strategies. Herein, we summarise the discussion by the think tank and identify the key basic research questions that must be addressed in order to develop more effective strategies for the functional cure of HBV infection.
