Potential Capacity of Interferon-α to Eliminate Covalently Closed Circular DNA (cccDNA) in Hepatocytes Infected with Hepatitis B Virus

Overview

Journal Gut Pathog

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Gastroenterology

Date 2021 Apr 13

PMID 33845868

Citations 13

Authors

Gang Wang

Jun Guan

Nazif U Khan

Guojun Li

Junwei Shao

Qihui Zhou

Lichen Xu

Chunhong Huang

Jingwen Deng

Haihong Zhu

Zhi Chen

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Interferon-alpha (IFN-α) and nucleot(s)ide analogs (NAs) are first-line drugs for the treatment of chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infections. Generally, NAs target the reverse transcription of HBV pregenomic RNA, but they cannot eliminate covalently-closed-circular DNA (cccDNA). Although effective treatment with NAs can dramatically decrease HBV proteins and DNA loads, and even promote serological conversion, cccDNA persists in the nucleus of hepatocytes due to the lack of effective anti-cccDNA drugs. Of the medications currently available, only IFN-α can potentially target cccDNA. However, the clinical effects of eradicating cccDNA using IFN-α in the hepatocytes of patients with HBV are not proficient as well as expected and are not well understood. Herein, we review the anti-HBV mechanisms of IFN-α involving cccDNA modification as the most promising approaches to cure HBV infection. We expect to find indications of promising areas of research that require further study to eliminate cccDNA of HBV in patients.

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