Hepatitis B: New therapeutic approach

Last author Ulrike Protzer is of virology and director of the Institute of Virology at TUM, where she researches, among other things, hepatitis viruses. Image: Kurt Bauer / TUM Therapeutic vaccination may help to cure chronic hepatitis B infection - Researchers at Technical University of Munich (TUM), Helmholtz Zentrum München and the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) have developed a novel therapeutic approach to cure chronic hepatitis B. The scientists found that the large amount of hepatitis B virus proteins expressed in the liver prevents the body's immune system to defeat the virus. Knocking down the expression of the virus' proteins may enable a successful therapeutic vaccination. Around 260 million humans, more than three percent of the world's population, are chronically infected by the hepatitis B virus. As a result, every year, 880,000 people worldwide die of liver failure or hepatocellular carcinoma. Currently no curative therapy is available. The therapies available to date inhibit virus replication, but need to be given long-term.