- 现金
- 62111 元
- 精华
- 26
- 帖子
- 30437
- 注册时间
- 2009-10-5
- 最后登录
- 2022-12-28
|
Editorial| Volume 77, ISSUE 4, P903-905, October 01, 2022
Inhibiting cell-to-cell transmission to reach HDV cure: The importance of IFN-α
PDF [1 MB]
Figures
Save
Share
Reprints
Request
Top
Inhibiting cell-to-cell transmission to reach HDV cure: The importance of IFN-α
Julie Lucifora
Eloi R. Verrier $
Thomas F. Baumert $
Show footnotes
Published:August 08, 2022DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2022.07.015
PlumX Metrics
See Article, pages 957–966
While HBV persists in cells through the establishment of stable episomal DNA,[1]
HDV is thought to be maintained in infected organisms by viral spreading. This hypothesis arose from our knowledge of the HDV life cycle that includes the production of an edited genome and a viral protein (L-HDAg) necessary for HDV morphogenesis that inhibits its replication.[2]
This is now enforced by Zhang and colleagues reporting a short half-life of HDV RNAs[3]
that would not allow HDV maintenance in non-dividing cells. Although the existence of long-term HDV persistence in cells was suspected in mice,[4]
,[5]
HDV spreading was thought to occur exclusively thanks to the hijacking of HBV envelope for its secretion and re-infection of naïve cells.[2]
Several therapeutic options aiming to cure HDV infection have entered the clinic (reviewed in[6]
and Fig. 1). Bulevirtide (previously called Myrcludex-B) is a peptide that blocks HDV entry into cells by competing with the virus for its binding to the NTCP receptor (Fig. 1). Lonafarnib, a farnesyl transferase inhibitor was initially designed to decrease the secretion of HDV particles since L-HDAg needs to be farnesylated to interact with the HBV envelope proteins (Fig. 1). A recent study reported that the remaining released particles (escaping the canonical function of farnesyl transferase inhibitor) are mostly non-infectious, notably because they contain an edited version of the HDV genome[7]
(Fig. 1). Nucleic acid polymers (NAPs) were also reported to potentially act on viral egress by blocking HBsAg release[8]
(Fig. 1). However, spreading of HDV occurring exclusively through its secretion with HBV envelope would not explain how HDV can be maintained in patients undergoing liver transplantation and receiving anti-HBsAg therapies,[9]
or in HDV-monoinfected mice.[4]
Moreover, results from clinical trials with bulevirtide, lonafarnib or NAPs and the first real-life studies for bulevirtide (that received conditional authorization by the EMA in 2020) suggested that the antiviral effects of either of the drugs are rather limited when used in monotherapy and become very potent for patients with HDV when combined with IFN-α.[10] |
|