Therapeutic vaccination and novel strategies to treat chronic HBV infection

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http://www.expert-reviews.com/doi/abs/10.1586/egh.09.48

Summary

Expert Review of Gastroenterology & Hepatology

October 2009, Vol. 3, No. 5, Pages 561-569 , DOI 10.1586/egh.09.48

(doi:10.1586/egh.09.48)

Review

Therapeutic vaccination and novel strategies to treat chronic HBV infection

Bertoletti† and Adam Gehring

†Author for correspondence

Therapeutic vaccination for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B has so far

shown limited clinical efficacy. In this review, we argue that the principal

cause of this failure is the profound defect of virus-specific T cells present

in chronic hepatitis B patients and we discuss potential new ways to achieve an

efficient restoration of virus-specific immunity in patients with chronic

hepatitis B virus infection.