— Christine M. Kukka, Project Manager, HBV Advocate
A new technique for studying the lifecycle of HBV could help
researchers develop a cure for the disease. In a report published in
the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences,
researchers describe using microfabricated cell cultures to sustain HBV
in human liver cells in a lab, which allows them to study how the
HBV-infected liver cells respond to drug treatments.
To develop new drugs, researchers need to study
how infected liver cells respond to experimental treatments. Until now,
researchers have been unable to maintain HBV-infected liver cells in a
lab setting. The cells are unstable and need the entire liver to
sustain them.
Using a process researchers developed when
studying the hepatitis C virus, the researchers developed a system that
uses liver cells from livers donated for transplant plus stem cells
derived from human skin samples and introduced into the liver-like
cells.
Researchers will now use these liver cells to investigate new treatments for HBV.
Source: www.yumanewsnow.com/index.php/news/health/7469-model-of-viral-
lifecycle-could-help-in-finding-a-cure-for-hepatitis-b
http://www.hbvadvocate.org/news/HBJ11.9.htmLabels: HBV lifecycle, laboratory model
