Scientists May Have Discovered an Achilles Heel for Hepatitis B

The hepatitis B virus (HBV) is tiny, dangerous, and highly contagious. It chronically infects approximately 296 million people and claims about 1 million lives annually. This elusive virus targets the liver, often remaining symptomless until it leads to cirrhosis or cancer.

Most treatments try to inhibit the virus’s polymerase (pol) protein. But those treatments are lifelong and not curative. Now researchers from the lab of Rockefeller’s Charles M. Rice have revealed never-before-seen mechanisms that may lead to new therapeutic approaches for HBV. They published the results in Cell.

“The current inhibitors can mitigate the infection but can’t eradicate it,” says Bill Schneider, a research assistant professor in Rice’s Laboratory of Virology and Infectious Disease, and senior author on the paper. “Basic science can provide new insights and lead to different strategies. That’s why we went back to the drawing board to learn more about this virus.”