Researchers in New Zealand may have found a way to disable HBV's X-protein–the culprit that enables HBV to integrate into liver cells and causes liver cancer. Scientists developed a micro weapon called a PROTAC (proteolysis targeting chimeric molecule) that targets and disables the X-protein.
According to their report published in the October issue of the journal of Biochemistry and Biophysical Research Communications, the cell-penetrating PROTAC they developed simultaneously disables the X-protein's functionality and causes it to degrade.
To date researchers have experimented with the PROTAC only in a laboratory setting. Researchers are now calling for preclinical studies of PROTAC to test its ability to prevent or treat HBV infection and liver cancer in human patients.