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Serum HBV RNA composition dynamics as a marker for intrahepatic HBV cccDNA turnover
Author(s) -
Hong Xupeng,
Hu Jianming
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
journal of medical virology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.782
H-Index - 121
eISSN - 1096-9071
pISSN - 0146-6615
DOI - 10.1002/jmv.25925
Subject(s) - cccdna , virology , circular dna , hepatitis b virus , rna , biology , hepatitis b virus pre beta , dna , virus , viral replication , hepatitis b virus dna polymerase , genetics , gene , genome , hbsag
Current therapies can suppress the replication of hepatitis B virus (HBV) but cannot clear chronic HBV infection, which afflicts hundreds of millions worldwide. HBV persistence is sustained by the viral covalently closed circular DNA (cccDNA), an episome in the nucleus of infected hepatocytes. cccDNA is refractory to current therapies and its clearance is the holy grail for HBV cure. However, it has been difficult to monitor the fate of cccDNA in the liver directly. The current study takes a novel approach to this critical issue by monitoring the dynamic change in the genetic composition of the serum HBV RNA, which appears to reflect the dynamics of intrahepatic cccDNA turnover.