Chronic infection with hepatitis B virus (HBV) continues to be a major health problem affecting about 400 million people worldwide. The narrow species tropism of HBV has hindered progresses in HBV research and development of more efficient treatments. Due to strong restraints encountered using chimpanzees and animal models based on HBV-related viruses, recent developments focused on using the natural target of HBV infection: the human hepatocyte. However, in vitro susceptibility of human hepatocytes to HBV is limited and cultured cells may respond differently to the infection and other stimuli than hepatocytes in the liver.
No takes yet. Share an insight, caveat, or question.
Dandri et al. (2011) studied this question.
Synapse has enriched 5 closely related papers on similar clinical questions. Consider them for comparative context: